



^foe Xaw of 
flatutal Dealing 



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Cbatles %. ©ifeon, m, », 





Book ^^ 

Copyright N" 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 



trbe Xavo of 
IRatural Ibealing 



By CHARLES L. GILSON, N. H 

THE EMBODIMENT OF A THEORY AND 
A PRACTICE WHICH ARE COMBINED 
INTO A SYSTEM OF DEVELOPING THE 
BODY, THE MIND AND THE SPIRIT OF 
MAN THRO' THE AGENCY OF THE 
FORCES WITHIN HIMSELF v< v< v< n« ve 




"Know Thyself, Then Help Thyself 



WORCESTER, MASS. 

^be Ibamllton ipreea 

MCMV. 



T^^. 






LIBRAHY of OO^IGKESS 
Two Copies rteceiveu 

UOPY B. 



Copyright, 1905 
By CHARLES L. GILSON. 



TO MY MOTHER 
who knew my aims and my hopes: 
who believed in me and my work, 
this book is reverently dedicated. 



CONTENTS. 



Chapter page 

I. The Source of Healing Power 9 

II. Preparation for Treatment 16 

III. General Methods 20 

IV, Auto-Suggestion 27 

V. Absent Treatment in Theory and Practice . . 33 

VI. Subjective Methods 37 

VII. Acute Conditions 42 

VIII. Some Popular Misconceptions 47 

IX. How TO Succeed 50 

PART II. 

I. Diseases and Their Treatment 57 

II. Nervous Derangements 66 

III. Subjective Suggestions 71 

IV. Asthma 75 

V. Epilepsy 80 

VI. The Root of IVIany Ills 83 

VII. Paralysis 87 

VIII. After Effects of Injuries 94 

IX. Heart Irregularities 100 

X. Gastritis 107 

XI. Some Notable Cases 112 

XII. Bright's Disease 117 

XIIL A Variety OF Ills 123 

XIV. Breathing the Best Hygienic Precaution . . 135 

XV. Some Suggestive Expedients 140 

XVI. Teachability of Success 146 

XVII. Conclusion 151 



PREFACE. 

IN preparing this series of lessons upon the art of Natural 
Healing, I have entertained no intention of entering 
into abstruse discussions of the laws of mental or psychic 
phenomena. These laws have long since been adequately 
formulated and discussed by such eminent writers as Dr. 
Hudson and others, and I have no need to speak of them except 
to illustrate and make clear the harmony that exists between 
my own work and the great principles of natural law. 

I wish most emphatically to state in the beginning that 
I claim nothing outside the rigid and fast-fixed boundaries of 
definitely understood psychic phenomena. There is nothing 
supernatural, nothing transcending Nature's immutable law, 
in what I have done. I have but applied laws and reaped 
the beneficent results of abiding within the law — no act of 
mine has for an instant controverted or opposed the great, 
simple, unchangeable statutes that Mother Nature has written 
in indelible characters for the guidance of her universal creation. 
Any man who claims powers outside these laws, or any man 
who claims ability to set them at naught with impunity, 
may be set down unhesitatingly as ignorant or an impostor. 

Nor have I any intention of entering into any campaign 
against any now-established theory or system of treating or 
healing the sick. I believe that all systems of healing have 
some substance of truth and do a certain amount of good, 
else they could not exist. The world has seen innumerable 
systems of theology, philosophy and sociology, each with 
its partisans convinced of its complete infallibility. Some of 
these systems have been so choked with error and absurdity 



vi PREFACE. 



that today we merely laugh at their vagaries, yet unbiased 
inspection of their principles will almost invariably reveal a 
kernel of unalloyed truth at the bottom. The wildest theory 
man ever evolved probably had in its inception some minute 
revelation of immutable law, perhaps disclosed only as is 
caught a glimpse of some far-away shining mountain peak, 
never before seen, though dimly and intuitively believed to 
exist, but instantly swallowed up again in impenetrable cloud 
and mystery. So it is only the narrow and the self-sufficient man 
who denies that his neighbor has even glimpsed the summit, 
when he himself claims to be gazing from another angle at 
its fully unveiled effulgence. Truth is always potent, and a 
very little infusion of it '^leaveneth a whole lump" of error 
and misconception. It is only to be regretted that so many 
modem systems of healing are hampered and choked into 
comparative uselessness by a cumbersome mechanism of 
tradition, dogma, etiquette, prejudice and narrowness. 

I claim only to have cast off these irksome bonds which 
hamper so many conscientious workers in the great field of 
alleviating human suffering and pain, and by so doing to have 
used the truth and discarded the dross. I have ever aimed 
to get back close to Nature — to use her methods and to give 
unquestioning obedience to her laws. That is why my system 
of Natural Healing, as I have always preferred to call it, 
has proved itself so efficacious as it has. It is Nature's own 
way and therefore is not a man-made system at all, not the 
creation of my brain or any other man's, but simply a right 
system of doing Nature's own bidding. I have formed and 
co-ordinated the plan of healing and made it available, but 
I could no more have created it than I could create the universe. 

This, then, is my reason for offering this book to the 
public — that all may freely know of the results I have obtained 



PREFACE. vii 



in a long practice full of seemingly miraculous curative successes; 
secondly, how I have obtained them; and lastly, that all who 
will, may learn to attain like results themselves. 

I claim that, with the assistance of this volume, any 
person of suitable physical, mental and moral make-up, may 
heal the sick and banish pain without medicine or surgery, 
as easily and efficaciously as I have been doing it daily for 
years. 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 



CHAPTER I. 

MOST POWERFUL 
SERVANT — HELP IS FROM WITHIN — THE SUBJECTIVE MIND — 
KNOWLEDGE OF ITS FUNCTIONS PREREQUISITE TO HEALTH — 
CONCEPTIONS OF FAITH — ''KNOW THYSELF, THEN HELP 
THYSELF — AND OTHERS^' 

THIS book is calculated to teach the principles of Natural 
Healing. I do not anticipate that every person who 
reads it will be able to cure disease. Any person who 
reads it and assimilates its contents can do so if he choose, 
but very many will not. That is always to be assumed with 
reference to any subject of instruction. Very many students 
annually matriculate at the various institutions of learning 
throughout the world, and very few actually become experts 
in the subjects they elect to study. One has to look but a 
short distance in his own vicinity to find some one who has 
acquired all the book knowledge of a profession, or all the 
theory of a science and yet is neither able to apply his knowl- 
edge practically nor to teach it to others. Such knowledge 
is not, however, acquired in vain, for though the person may not 
"benefit himself or others in a material way by what he has 
learned, still the very fact of his knowing is helpful to him. 
Particularly is the above true with reference to knowledge 
acquired along the lines of mental phenomena. A right under- 
standing of the principles which govern mental therapeutics 
cannot fail to be of benefit to any student, no matter whether 
he studies to know and apply his knowledge or merely to 
know alone. So I claim that a careful perusal of this volume 



10 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

will be helpful to any person of intelligence, whether he aims- 
simply to help himself or if he has the higher ambition of 
helping his fellow men. 

The first and most essential prerequisite in the study of 
this book is that the student should know whence comes^ 
the 'power with which he deals and by means of which he works. 
Without such knowledge, the student is manifestly entirely 
at sea and all his efforts entirely futile. So it may fairly be 
said that the remainder of this chapter contains the absolute 
first essential to an understanding of the subject, and should 
be carefully assimilated by the reader regardless of the object 
with which he approaches the study. 

There is just one thing always to be kept rigidly in view^ 
namely, ^^The mind is the source of all curative power. ''^ An 
'Y understanding of this dictum is the key to the art of Natural 
Healing. 

The human mind is, without any question, a dual entity.- 
It consists of two distinct elements each essential to the 
other and to life. Each has separate and well-understood 
functions, and each may act entirely independently of the 
other. These two halves of the mental entity are called: 
I. The Objective, or conscious mind; II. The Subjective,. 
or subconscious mind. 

The Objective mind is that portion of the human mentality^ 
through which we are cognizant of exterior facts. It is that- 
portion of the mind which perceives, through the medium 
of the five senses, the conditions and events which go on out- 
side ourselves, and by which we are conscious of their effect 
upon ourselves. It is also the reasoning mind and possesses-- 
the power of logic or the power of reasoning from cause to 
effect and vice-versa. 

The Subjective mind, on the contrary, is the portion of 
the mind which controls all the sensations, emotions and func- 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 11 

tions of the body. It cannot reason, but it is gifted with 
infallible memory. It is the indelible record upon which is 
written down every experience of life. It is the absolute 
master of every atom of the physical being of man. It is 
the spirit. 

All that man needs to acquire perfect mastery over him- 
self is the power to make the Subjective mind his servant. 
Of course this sounds to the uninitiated an impossible require- 
ment, but in reality it is the simplest. All we need to realize 
is that The power which regenerates, the power which makes 
us whole, is within ourselves. 

"^Tj^Qg) IS WITHIN us, not far away in some inaccessible 
Heaven where only the elect may hope to climb, but His 
Spirit is within every one of his living creatures. We have 
only to assert our real selves to become Godlike. 

How strange a thing it is that so marvellous a truth should 
have been lost and ever sought after, now and again half 
regrasped only to be lost again, throughout the ages! Ever 
has man sought far afield for the power to overcome disease 
and death, while all the time it lay within the confines of his 
own being. It is like the allegory of Hawthorne in which 
the peasant boy waits patiently his lifetime for the fabled 
poet to appear, only to find at last that he himself is the chosen 
one. 

Within every man there is the absolute power of con- 
trolling his own destiny, within reasonable limits, and this 
applies first of all to the control of his physical existence. It 
is self-evident that if the Subjective mind controls the functions 
of the body, it is simply necessary to control the Subjective 
mind in order to dictate the perfect working of the body. 

The Subjective mind is to be likened to the careful house- 
keeper, who, when her activities are properly directed, so 



12 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

orders the domicile that every factor of life moves smoothly 
within it, and makes it an ideal dwelling-place. The Subjective 
mind, when properly directed through the medium of the will, 
co-ordinates the functions and keeps the human temple a 
dwelling-place fit for its divine tenant, the Soul. 

In no way is the beautiful simplicity of divine law more 
notably shown than in the relation of mankind to the power 
which he possesses within himself. The Subjective mind is 
without question the spark of divine life in man. Yet it is 
entirely within his power of control. Subtle and mysterious 
as the Subjective entity is, it is ever amenable to Objective 
suggestion. Reason, which is, contrary to the often repeated 
dictum of the poet, not the divine attribute of man at all, 
but merely a human one, is capable of directing the Subjective 
mind through the medium of the will. The Objective mind, 
which depends for its acts upon reason, which vanishes with 
consciousness and which dies with the physical body, can 
compel the undying spirit to do its behests. 

In a single word. The Subjective mind is always amenable 
to Objective suggestion. The will is the connecting link between 
the two entities. 

The Subjective mind, being incapable of reason or logic, 
acts upon every thought of the Objective mind, that is, upon 
every suggestion given it. ''As a man thinketh, so is he,'' 
is absolutely a statement of fact. Now right at this point 
some students will say, ''Why, this is simply 'Faith cure,' 
and as I could never have faith enough to cure either myself 
or others, this method will be of no advantage to me." There 
could be no greater mistake than that. 

Faith is essential to the cure of disease, no matter by 
what means it is attempted. Nothing in the world can be 
done without Faith. The man who does not believe in him- 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 



self can never do anything or be anything worth while. It 
makes no difference what the natine of the belief is, a belief 
of some sort is essential to success in the most trivial thing 
as well as in the greatest activity of life. We could not even 
breathe if we did not have faith that our lungs would fill them- 
selves so many times a minute without effort on our own part. 
A man carries a potato in his pocket to cure rheumatism, 
but it is his faith and not the potato that effects the cure. 
The great trouble with those who decry so-called Faith cure 
is that they know only Objective faith. They wholly disregard 
Subjective faith, and it is Subjective faith that cures disease. 
Objective faith directs the curative power, but Subjective ^ 
faith is that power. 

Here again is illustrated Nature's wonderful providence 
of an infallible remedy for man's ills. Faith is an essential 
requisite, but man cannot always command reason to have 
it — that is, he cannot always have Objective faith. So then, 
Natm"e provides the possibility of Subjective faith, independent 
of anything but mechanical means. In other words, repetition 
will create Subjective faith regardless of reason. It is only 
necessary to repeat a suggestion, either for good or evil, to 
the Subjective mind and it will act upon it, no matter whether 
the conscious mind believes it or not. The repetition of a 
suggestion is an infallible creator of Subjective belief and y- 
consequent action, for the Subjective mind acts upon every 
suggestion which it accepts — that is, in which it gains faith. 

If Objective faith were the basis of '^ Faith-cure'^ so-called, 
''Faith-cure," mental healing and Natural Healing would all 
alike be fallacious. It is a deeper, more spiritual quality 
that we mean when we say that faith is essential to healing. 
It is not the faith of logic or of reason, but the faith of the 
spirit which cures. 



14 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

When the Saviour said "The Kingdom of God is within 
you," he referred to just this fact, that the power which makes 
man Godlike rests within himself, and is his by divine birth- 
right, the power to surmount the weakness of the flesh by the 
inherent attributes of the spirit. 

So when He further said, "Except ye become as a little 
child, ye cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven,' ' He 
emphasized the need for recognizing Subjective faith and its 
basic Naturalness, rather than for depending upon the evanes- 
cent attributes of the Objective entity. The one is Natural 
and infallible because it is spiritual and immortal, the other 
is complicated with constant possibility of error because it 
is physical and mortal. 

Briefly to sum up, then, the student must first gain a 
true conception of the fact that he has within himself a power 
which needs only to be applied in order to overcome all physical 
obstacles. The limits of accomplishment are determined only 
by the student's own personal ability to grasp the theory of 
Subjective force and to develop and apply the forces of his 
own being. 

Understand first that you have within yourself the key to 
power. Determine that you will develop that power. Believe 
in yourself. 

Know that you can do and be what you will, within natural 
limits. Remember that you have the most wonderful force 
in the universe within yourself, and that you need only to 
know how to apply it to become master of disease. Suggestion 
is the lever which controls the current of vital force. 

Practice is the only thing needful after theory has been 
acquired. Cultivate faith in yourself and you will instil it 
into others. Learn to distinguish between the Objective 
faith which reason teaches that you may well have in the 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 15 

-constant operation of Natural laws, and the Subjective faith 
which you will need to cultivate by means of repeated sugges- 
tion in the subconscious mentality of your patients. ''Know )^ 
thyself, then help thyself — and others/^ 

With each succeeding day of practice in controlling the 
Subjective mind by means of suggestion, you will find new 
power and strength becoming your own. There is no limit 
to your possibilities if you will determine to he yourself. In 
succeeding chapters I will endeavor to describe practical appli- 
cations of the grand law of suggestion, but first let the student 
Joiow that in his own breast is the secret of all power. 



CHAPTER II. 

Preparation for Treatment. 

operator self-trained — confidence in self and confidence 
of patient — methods of implanting faith — methods of 
suggestion — expectant attention. 

IT is of course to be assumed that previous to attempting 
the healing of the sick, the student will have thoroughly 
mastered the theory of suggestion as the foundation of 
all curative power. He will have trained his own Subjective 
entity to control the functions of his own body, and he will 
by long practice have accustomed himself to think always 
in terms of Natural Science — that is, he will have reached a 
state of mind in which the Subjective and Objective minds 
act together in accordance with the principles heretofore laid 
down. He will always know that in himself is the one agency 
which can overcome material obstacles, and he will have gone 
beyond the stage where doubt is possible because he knows 
there can be no doubt of the Subjective power. 

Assuming then, that the student is ready to apply his 
knowledge to relieving others, he should first of all consider 
the element of confidence. The operator should first have 
complete confidence in himself, or rather, in the power that 
is within himself, and secondly, he should aim to secure the 
confidence of the patient. Too much stress cannot be placed 
upon the importance of making an initial good impression. 
Everybody knows how essential a good first impression is in 
any affair of life. First impressions may not always be reliable, 
but they are generally the most influential. 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 17 

I have already discussed the need of faith in order to 
heal. Securing Objective faith is the easiest method of assur- 
ing Subjective faith. If you believe in yourself, and show 
it by an air of quiet strength and confidence, the patient also 
will believe in you, and the moment he does so, you can be 
sure you can cure him. The reason for that is simply that 
the Objective faith which he conceives in you, engendered by 
your strength of personality, induces in him Subjective faith, 
or in other words, you are yourself a most potent suggestion 
to the patient. 

You will never induce faith in a patient by telling him 
that he must have it in order to be cured. Such a procedure 
would be an adverse suggestion that you might never after- 
wards be able to overcome. But if a patient is manifestly 
skeptical, it is your business to overcome that prejudice as 
your own best judgment may dictate for each individual case. 
Of course it is in this respect that each student's own personal 
tact and ability will determine his success. 

Some patients may be argued with, others can be won 
to belief in you by a gradual process of securing their friend- 
ship and others must be shown cases parallel to their owti -^ 
where the result has been beneficial either through your own 
efforts or those of other mental practitioners. Each patient 
must be handled carefully and the student's own tact and 
^' skill in handling people," as the expression is, will determine 
the measure of his success. 

Suggestion is always the basis of Natural Healing, but 
suggestion takes various forms, and skill and judgment must x 
always be used in selecting the right form to apply to each 
individual case. 

Various methods will have to be used with different patients. ^ 
With some it is best to place the hands upon the affected parts, 



18 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

with others simply the glance accompanied by appropriate 
suggestions is all that is required, while with others various 
mechanical expedients may be employed as suggested by the 
experience and ingenuity of the operator. 

All that is necessary is to obtain the attention and hence 
the co-operation of the patient. It is always to be remembered 
that all mechanical expedients are but forms of suggestion 
and have in themselves no virtue whatever except as they 
assist in attracting the Objective attention and thus influencing 
the Subjective entity. 

It is well known that it is only necessary to fix the atten- 
tion firmly upon a portion of the body in order to affect its 
physical condition. Thus it is perfectly possible to slow down 
or to accelerate the pulse by fixing the attention upon the 
heart. Many nervous persons can so affect their heart action 
as to produce fainting merely because they expect they are 
going to faint. 

The phenomena of expectant attention are many and varied. 
There are scores of well-authenticated instances in which 
constant dwelling upon the fear of disease has produced it 
in due time. This is especially true with reference to cancer, 
hydrophobia, tuberculosis and other diseases of more or less 
obscure nature which from their malignancy are particularly 
objects of popular apprehension. A very recent case reported 
in the newspapers occurred in Chicago. A young man named 
Johnson, about six months previously to his death, had owned 
a small dog which was bitten by another animal and died of 
rabies. Johnson was never bitten by the animal nor was he 
ever reaUy in danger from the affair, but he constantly brooded 
upon it and finally began to exhibit all the symptoms of hydro- 
phobia. He finally died in the utmost agony, though it was 
perfectly well known that he could never by any possibility 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 19 

have contracted the malady from any exterior source. This 
was a typical case of expectant attention resulting in actual 
simulation of disease. His constant Objective fear reacted 
upon the Subjective mind until the actual condition of disease 
was produced. 

Every New England born person can, if he lived in the 
country, look back to his childhood and remember being told 
that poison-iv>^ would injure only those who feared it. There 
is excellent reason for believing that this is the fact, for many 
cases have been observed in which people touched the plant 
without knowing what it was until some time afterward, and 
received no harm whatever, while in other cases the first symp- 
toms of poisoning followed shortly after learning the nature 
of the plant. In exactly the same way, many an instance 
has been recorded of people being practically frightened to 
death by the bite of some reptile which they thought venomous 
but which really was not so. In some instances the discovery 
of the innocuous nature of the creature was made in time to 
cause a laughably quick recovery from apparently imminent 
dissolution. 

So when the attention of a patient is brought to a portion 
of the body by repeated suggestion, it is possible to affect 
the status of that member in a great many ways. If there 
is inflammation, the attention is directed to the part, and 
the suggestion given is that the blood is receding from it, that '^ 
there is a marked decrease in the tension there, that a feeling 
of coolness and relief exists and that the tissues are losing the 
superabundance of blood supply. On the other hand, where 
there is restriction of the circulation, such as occurs in paralysis 
of some kinds, the reverse process is employed, and in response 
the circulation will be quickened, the tissues fiUed with fresh 
blood and thus renovated. 



CHAPTER III. 
General Methods. 

TONING UP general SYSTEM — IMPORTANCE OF SOLAR PLEXUS 
IN SUGGESTIVE TREATMENT — HOW TO STIMULATE CIRCULATION 
AND DIGESTION — EFFECTS OF GENERAL TREATMENT — WHEN 
NAUSEA IS AN ENCOURAGING SYMPTOM — SUGGESTIVE USE OF 
WATER — MAGNETIZED WATER — ADAPTING TREATMENT TO IN- 
DIVIDUAL CASES — VITAL NECESSITY OF CO-OPERATION BETWEEN 
PATIENT AND HEALER. 

AVERY good method to use in treating cases of a general 
nature wherein it is desired to tone up the whole system 
and thus aid nature to restore the normal tone to the 
whole body, is as follows. It is well to seat the patient in a 
comfortable chair or allow him to recline with the head and 
shoulders slightly raised. You may then spend a few minutes in 
talking quietly with him, explaining that the treatment you are 
about to give him will cause his circulation to become better, 
the nervous energy to be increased and the general system 
toned up. 

Here again the operator must use his skill and judgment 
in determining what to tell the patient. The operator must 
use his personal knowledge of his patient and adapt his explana- 
tions to the patient's normal intellect and ability to understand, 
as well as to his present condition. Sometimes patients are 
in such a weakened or debilitated condition that too much 
talking of any kind is hurtful to them. Tact alone can deter- 
mine the course for each individual case. 

When you have secured the attention of the patient, 
look fixedly at him, meeting his eyes and holding his attention 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 21 

without staring at him. Place the right hand upon the pit 
of the patient's stomach, calling his attention to the fact that ^ 
it is the location of the solar plexus, which is considered to 
be the seat of vital energy. It is the most important nerve 
plexus in the body and it is believed that it governs the sympa- 
thetic nerve system and the organic functions almost entirely. 
Tell the patient that this is the case, and that you are impart- 
ing to the plexus a stimulation which will cause it to resume • 
activity. It will thus increase the secretions of the stomach, 
the liver and the intestines, the bile will flow more freely, 
the processes of digestion will go on normally and the colon 
will be lubricated so that movements will be normal. The 
kidneys will also be stimulated to activity. 

All the time that these explanations are being given in 
a quiet, firm tone, in language suited to the patient's condition 
and understanding, the operator's hand should be slowly describ- 
ing a rectangular path upon the abdomen, following the course 
of the colon. A vibratory motion may also be given gently 
over the seat of the solar plexus, at the moment when it is 
stated that the object is to stimulate that organ in its functions. 

This treatment, you may proceed to say, will correct all 
digestional troubles and will thus give Nature a chance to make 
new blood and tissue to replace the ravages of disease. 

In cases of nervous debility, this treatment may be supple- 
mented by seatmg the patient in such manner that his spine 
can be easily reached, and then placing the left hand upon 
the back of the patient's neck at the base of the brain, while 
the right hand is used to make passes slowly along the spinal 
column. In all cases the treatment should conclude with 
appropriate suggestions to the effect that improvement will 
be noticed immediately in the digestive and other functions, 
ajid that pain, if any exist, will disappear. 



22 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

The treatments described above are of course general 
ones and should be in addition to special treatments for local 
disorders. The seat of pain, if any exist, must always be 
treated locally, in addition to general treatment, and if pain 
is severe, attention will of course be given to relieving it before 
anything else is done. 

It has often happened in my practice that patients treated 
in the general manner I have described will complain that 
within a few hours after the first treatment, they experienced 
unusual discomfort and in some cases violent nausea. This 
I believe to be caused by the stimulation of the nervous system 
and the stirring up of the abdominal organs together with the 
effort thus made to throw off stagnant secretions and impuri- 
ties. I have always found that patients who experienced this 
phenomenon were the quickest and most completely cured, 
and I always make use of this fact as a potent suggestion to 
aid their further progress. Naturally some patients are much 
discouraged by this sudden turn for the worse, as it seems 
to them to be, and if the operator has reason to believe his 
patient may be one liable to this experience, he may warn 
the patient in advance not to feel worried, as it is exactly what 
is desired and looked for. It is a fact that I have found it 
a most favorable and desirable indication of recovery. I 
have noted the same phenomenon in cases of neuralgia and 
sciatica, where a tremendous paroxysm of pain followed the 
first treatment within a few hours — and then never reappeared 
in any form, the patient being completely ciu*ed. 

I have found the use of water very valuable in many 
ways. Of course liberal drinking of pure water is a hygienic 
precaution that a great many people neglect, and the student 
will often find cases where all the patient requires is to drink 
a needful supply of pure water daily. Many a $100 fee has 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 23 

been paid to specialists on digestional diseases for the simple 
advice, "drink water/' 

But in addition to this, water may be made to serve real 
curative as well as preventive purposes. In cases of dyspepsia, 
constipation and allied troubles, the operator may draw a 
glass of water and call the patient's attention to it, not neces- 
sarily in words, but by giving the impression of much importance 
attaching to it. Set the glass upon the palm of the left hand, 
and place the right over its top, imparting a vibrating motion 
to the hands in such manner that the patient sees you are 
doing so. If thought proper to do so, the suggestion may 
be given that you are imparting magnetic or nervous energy 
to the water for the patient's benefit. In some cases it may 
be well to breathe slightly upon the surface of the water, but 
in any event, the object is to give the suggestion of its efiicacy 
to the patient. Then have the patient drink the water, giving 
the needful suggestions as to the effect it will have. I have 
seen constipation of long standing relieved by one such treat- 
ment and cured in a few more. In exactly the same way, 
too great activity of the bowels is relieved, the suggestions 
only being varied to meet the case. 

It will depend, as I have said, only upon the personality 
of the operator, as to how potent he succeeds in making his 
suggestions. I have had patients declare the water I prepared 
for them to be as '^ prickly" in taste as vichy, while others 
could feel a thrill like that imparted by a galvanic battery, 
whenever I laid my hands upon them. These were by no 
means among the least intelligent of my patients, but they 
were among those most easily benefited. They were those 
in whom Objective faith was easily implanted and they did 
not, like others, have to be given a long coiu"se of repeated 
suggestions in order to create Subjective faith. 



24 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

The operator ought always to remember that each indivi- 
dual patient may be expected to exhibit new peculiarities of 
physical and temperamental make-up. No two patients will 
react in exactly the same manner and what may benefit one, 
may have no effect upon another. Neither is it possible to 
generalize as to the outcome of cases. I have seen in my 
practice two cases of the same disease which seemed almost 
identical as to nature and progress of the malady, age and 
general condition of the patient, etc., yet one might be cured 
in a single treatment and the other not till after several weeks 
of constant attendance. Why this should be so cannot be 
explained except upon the ground of difference in temperament, 
and obscure subjective phenomena. So it is never well to 
make prophecies as to the length of time necessary to cure a 
patient nor to attempt to generalize from special cases. 

It must not be supposed that failures do not occasionally oc- 
cur in Natural Healing as well as in all other human endeavors. 
No matter how infallible a law or a theory may be, human 
application of it is always fraught with the danger of failure. 
One of the greatest obstacles to imfailing success is the diffi- 
culty of securing positive co-operation between operator and 
patient. The patient must co-operate or he cannot hope to 
be cured. 

One of the most vital differences between Natural Healing 
and so-called ^' faith cure'^ is that the latter implies a miraculous 
cure of disease in answer to prayer or to objective faith. It 
implies that a petition to God can induce Him to change His 
immutable laws in a given instance. It implies that God, 
instead of being unchangeable as He has Himself declared 
He is, is really vacillating and capable of being induced to 
change the whole course of universal law in answer to the 
petition of an individual. In other words, if ''faith cure'' 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 25 

were a tenable proposition, every manifestation of it would 
be a miracle and a revocation of Natural law. 

So then, it often happens that a patient is found who 
looks for an immediate and magical recovery. He wants to 
be rid of a condition in a minute that it took months of abuse 
of Nature to produce. He shuts his mind to the operator's 
explanations and suggestions and waits for some magical 
hocus-pocus to restore him to youth and strength instantly. 
Needless to say, such an event does not occiu*. Then he gives 
up the treatment in a fine scorn and disgust of such '' quackery. '^ 
Natural Healing requires more than the swallowing of a drug 
or a potion. It requires knowledge. 

Some patients unconsciously oppose their whole wills to 
the operator's efforts. They subconsciously determine that 
nothing whatever shall be allowed to controvert their own 
particular set habits of thought. They may assure the operator 
that they place themselves unreservedly in his hands, yet, 
perhaps unconsciously to themselves, they are set in the pur- 
pose to let nothing combat their own creeds, dogmas and 
iabitual beliefs. Such patients also shut their minds against 
helpful suggestion and knowledge and cannot be helped so 
long as they maintain this attitude. In all such cases, to use 
the language of Natiu^al Healing, they defeat your suggestions 
by stronger adverse auto-suggestions. 

But if a patient will open his mind to knowledge, and 
faithfully comply with mental laws, good effects are impossible 
to avoid for they follow in natural sequence. Oftentimes 
there are subjective causes which will aid or retard progress, 
but these can only be dealt with individually. The mind 
tainted with selfishness, covetousness, avarice, sensuality or 
jealousy shuts itself to help. 

The relations between operator and patient should be 
made as intimate as can be accomplished, without the loss of 



26 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

dignity on the part of the operator. Too much familiarity- 
breeds contempt is as true in regard to the relation of healer 
and patient as it is in any other application to earthly affairs. 
The operator ought to strive to gain the respect, esteem and 
confidence of his subject, and the only way in which this can 
be done is by being worthy of such respect and esteem. 

You can never do a patient good unless you approach 
his case with a sincere desire to benefit him, not for the effect 
it will have upon your own fame or purse, but because of the 
good you are going to do him. If you approach each case 
in your practice with an earnest effort and intent to help the 
patient for his own sake, you will gain success, but otherwise 
you will not do so to any such extent as will the man whose 
heart is filled with pity and love for suffering humanity. 

Love for one's fellow men is absolutely necessary in order 
to get the best results by Natural Healing methods. In no 
other way than by a sincere and unfeigned sympathy with 
suffering fellow mortals can you really secure their confidence. 
The evidences and sentiments of compassion cannot be simu- 
lated without ultimate detection. You may not be conscious 
that your affectation of sympathy is detected, but the results 
will show themselves unfailingly in your practice. 

The more a healer gives out to his patients, the more 
good he himself receives. It is the true interpretation of the 
saying that '' virtue is its own reward.'' The more good you 
give out, the more good you yourself receive. It is the true 
law of compensation, and the healer whose heart overflows 
with sympathy and love for the suffering will find his good 
thoughts and deeds returned to himself in ten-fold measure. 



CHAPTER IV. 

AUTO-SUGGESTION. 

CO-OPERATION SECURED BY SELF-GIVEN SUGGESTIONS — MAKING 
TREATMENT CONTINUOUS — HOW SUBJECTIVE FAITH IS BEST 
SECURED — WHEN AUTO-SUGGESTIONS SUCCEED BEST — SIMPLE 
SUGGESTIONS MOST EFFECTIVE — METHODS OF ADMINISTERING 
SELF-HELP. 

SUGGESTION is the basis of Natural Healing. It makes no 
difference what the suggestion is nor from whence it 
emanates, it will control the subjective mind, if not 
controverted by stronger suggestion. So then the student 
must in the beginning furnish suggestions to himself before 
he begins to treat others. It is by the suggestions he gives 
himself that his own subjective mind is controlled, so it is 
obvious that he can instruct his patients how to help themselves 
in the same manner. 

The need for co-operation between patient and operator 
has been emphasized before. There is no way in which such 
co-operation can be better secured than by teaching the patient 
the principles of auto-suggestion. If the patient practices auto- 
suggestion systematically under right guidance by the operator, 
he makes his treatment a continuous one and the efforts of 
the operator are supplemented in a most effective manner. 

It has been stated that subjective faith is generated by 
repetition of suggestions, hence the value of auto-suggestion 
cannot be overestimated in this connection. The most difficult 
cases of objective opposition to cure by Natural means, can be 
overcome by auto-suggestion if persisted in. 



28 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

The operator, having secured the attention of the patient 
and gotten him interested in the treatment, may tell him 
that he can aid in his own recovery by a few minutes' treatment 
daily. The operator can then explain the necessity for govern- 
ing the subjective mind by appropriate suggestions and may 
dictate some suggestions to the patient to be repeated at 
•certain intervals during the day. Most patients will grasp 
the idea immediately and proceed to arrange suitable sugges- 
tions for themselves, and by applying them will hasten their 
recoveries by many days. It is obvious that the patient who 
depends solely upon the operator for the good he is to receive 
will not progress as rapidly as the one who trains his own 
subjective mind to a continuous, though subconscious, process 
of self-help. 

Auto-suggestions may be given helpfully at all times, 
though they succeed best when given regularly and syste- 
matically. Suggestions are to the mind what exercise is to 
the body, in this respect. 

It has, however, been shown by repeated experiments 
that suggestions are most potent when given just before the 
patient falls asleep. The objective mind vanishes, to all 
intents and purposes, when unconsciousness comes. So far as 
the objective mind is concerned, sleep is as conclusive as death. 
But the subjective mind is even more active during sleep 
than during waking hours. Suggestions given just before 
sleep is induced seem to repeat themselves mechanically during 
sleep and thus acquire their very fullest effect. The subjec- 
tive mind is left unhampered during sleep by the possibly 
adverse suggestions of the objective mind, and it also has 
the greatest effect at that time upon the functions, especially 
those of circulation and digestion. If it is strongly suggested 
just before going to sleep that these functions are to be greatly 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 29 

strengthened during the ensuing sleeping hours, it will be 
found almost infallibly that just that effect will be obtained. 
So if the patient gives himself proper auto-suggestions each 
night when composing himself to rest, he will do as much 
for himself as the operator can do for him. 

Some patients cannot use auto-suggestion as successfully 
as others, of course, but here again temperamental differences 
and limitations come in and must be recognized as factors 
in the progress of the cure. With some patients it might 
not be well to try to use auto-suggestion for the reason that 
if they were skeptical in the first place, they might misunder- 
stand your explanations and become more skeptical. So 
many people have become accustomed to swallowing some 
sort of drug when sick and relying entirely upon that to effect 
a cure, that they are suspicious and distrustful the moment 
you suggest any self-help. 

The nature of auto-suggestions to be given in cases where 
it seems advisable to use this method must depend upon the 
individual and upon the disease. Patients suffering much 
pain will be less likely to make good use of auto-suggestions ' 
than others, though in cases where they are fully convinced 
of the efficacy of the method, self-given suggestions at the 
moments of most intense pain, will be found very helpful. 

The simpler suggestions are, the better. Short and 
epigrammatic sentences are most effective. The patient should ' 
be given three or four of these to be used at the hours prescribed 
by the operator. They should be simply short, definite affir- 
mations of improvement. Auto-suggestions to be used upon 
retiring at night might be something like this: ''I am going 
to sleep soundly"; ''I shall wake up much stronger '%* '^The 
pain will disappear"; ''Such and such a symptom will trouble 
me no more.'' 



30 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

Similar suggestions may be used at meal-times if digestional 
disturbances are feared or at any other time of day when 
desirable. The operator must use his own judgment in dictat- 
ing the suggestions to be used. 

One excellent method of using auto-suggestion is in con- 
nection with water drinking. It has been stated previously 
that attention should be given to seeing that the patient drinks 
the needful supply of water each day. Very many people 
suffer from nothing so much as the effects of too little water 
taken internally. Patients may be instructed to drink three 
or four glasses of water daily at stated times, not too near 
meals, and the act of drinking may be made the occasion for 
very valuable auto-suggestions. Tell the patient to drink the 
water slowly, with each swallow or sip repeating appropriate 
statements like the foregoing, but having special reference to 
the water that is being consumed. The thought should be 
that the water is going to stimulate the digestive functions, 
remove the causes of disease and tone up the system generally. 
Under proper instruction from the operator, patients will 
derive great benefit from this method. 

In the preliminary examination of each patient, the operator 
ought to learn all possible about the habits of eating, drinking 
and sleeping formed by the patient; and when he detects any- 
thing that should be corrected, he should use the corrective 
means as a vehicle for suggestion. Nine patients out of ten 
will be found to err in the matter of taking too little liquid 
and taking it at improper times. The less liquid taken with 
meals the better, and the more pure water taken at other 
times, within reason, the better. 

The method for a patient to use in giving himseff auto- 
suggestions varies according to different authorities. Some 
regard it as only essential to repeat the suggestions ^'parrot- 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING, 31 

like/' as it might be expressed, a large number of times. The 
advocates of this theory believe that the repetition is all that 
<ioes the work. 

On the other hand, I have found best to instruct patients 
to give themselves auto-suggestions after the following manner : 
Compose the body in a sitting or reclining position for a few 
minutes and strive to compose the mind at the same time as 
much as possible. By that I mean tranquilize the mind as 
much as possible and to this end it is best to close the eyes 
and to select a quiet place for the preliminary rest. Then 
Tepeat the suggestions two or three times mentally in a quiet, 
<ietermined way, using the will to enforce the subjective obe- 
dience. 

Some patients have told me they secured the best effect 
by imagining the subjective mind to be a separate personage 
to whom they addressed themselves in a tone of command. 
Then having given the suggestions, banish the whole matter 
from the objective mind as much as possible and go about 
the ordinary duties of life, simply stri\dng to keep a cheerful 
and untroubled frame of mind. If the thoughts revert to 
the matter at all, simply reaffirm the suggestions and again 
turn the mind from the matter. If there is pain, reaffirm the 
.suggestions against it every time it occurs. The theory of 
this is, of course, that the subjective mind, having once grasped 
suggestions given in this way, will go on repeating them sub- 
consciously, and acting upon them unless they are controverted 
by stronger adverse suggestions. Thus auto-suggestion consists 
in giving good suggestions and refusing to allow adverse ones 
to gain a foothold. 

Right at this point it may be well to give a caution to 
all operators and patients. I have just said that we must 
avoid adverse suggestions as well as inculcate good ones. No 



32 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

point in the whole practice of Natural Healing needs to have- 
greater stress laid upon it than that. Instruct all patients to 
say nothing to others with reference to their treatment. Pa- 
tients should not discuss their ailments nor their treatment 
with people outside their own near relatives, and not with 
them if they are opposed to mental therapeutics, either through 
ignorance or prejudice. Well-intentioned persons who do not 
understand the laws upon which Natural science is based will- 
often times create an atmosphere of adverse suggestion which 
no efforts of operator and patient combined can possibly over- 
come. Even the Saviour Himself more than once said ta 
those whom He had healed, ^^Take heed ye tell no man.'' 
We can understand no other reason for such an injunction 
except that in His complete knowledge of the subjective powers, 
He realized that adverse suggestion might overthrow the 
structure that faith and His own masterful spirit had built up. 

Most certainly no good can come from skepticism and 
^ throwing cold water" upon faith and hope, and if there were^ 
no deeper reason for it than that, an atmosphere of doubt 
and cynicism ought to be avoided by the patient. Even if 
the theory of the subjective entity were a fallacy, it never 
yet helped a sick person to tell him he was worse or was going 
to be so, or that the means he was using to get well were use- 
less ones. 

Avoid adverse environment and atmosphere whether you 
believe in Natural Healing or not. Don't discuss the treat- 
ment with the idle or the curious nor approach it yourself 
in any but an earnest spirit. It is an insult to the power and 
the God within us to indulge in idle chatter and frivolous^ 
gossip about so vital a matter. 



CHAPTER V. 

Absent Treatment in Theory and Practice. 

auto-suggestion the basis of absent treatment — failure 
to understand absent treatment the reason for oppo- 
SITION TO IT — INFLUENCE OF HEALER's PERSONALITY — 
TELEPATHY — ANIMAL MAGNETISM — SUBJECTIVE SUGGESTIONS. 

THE discussion of auto-suggestion leads naturally to the 
consideration of its application to cases other than 
those in which it is used as a means of treatment 
supplementary to the efforts of the operator himself. Auto- 
suggestion forms an important part of all absent treatment. 

Probably no aspect of Natural Healing is more liable to 
misconception than is the treatment of the sick who are resi- 
dent at a distance from the operator. Absent treatment is 
no new thing. It has formed a part of many systems of healing 
heretofore, though it has almost always been assailed with 
criticism and not infrequently with derision. This, however, 
is the result of a misconception of its principles. 

It is evident that all direct suggestions must, in one sense, 

become auto-suggestions before they can have curative value. 

In other words, they must be received objectively before they 

can be acted upon subjectively, and so, while received from 

an external source, they are ''auto" or self applied suggestions 

when they reach the subjective mind. This being the case, 

it is evident that distance between operator and patient has 

no effect upon the possibility of imparting suggestions. It 

merely affects the potency which they wiU have. That is to 

say, a suggestion sent in a letter is just qb good as one given 
4 



34 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING, 

by word of mouth, barring the consideration of the giver's 
personality. 

If a patient can be convinced of the value of self-given 
suggestions, and can be persuaded to apply them systematically 
according to the operator's directions, he will get as much 
good from absent as from direct treatment. 

The percentage of cases that can be helped by absent 
treatment is in general likely to be smaller than that benefited 
by direct treatment, because comparatively fewer patients can 
be found in whom it is possible to inculcate subjective faith 
without the aid of the operator's personality. Those patients 
in whom subjective faith can be implanted as the result of 
acceptance of the suggestive theory can be treated as well 
absently as in the operator's presence. 

It must be remembered that in treating absently, the 
patient is deprived of what should be the most potent of all 
suggestions, viz., the operator's own personality. Just what 
constitutes ''personality" is of course a thing most difficult 
to define, but I believe that it is, in effect, the ability to trans- 
fer suggestions subjectively. Heretofore we have considered 
suggestions as having objective origui exclusively. But it is 
my belief that certain minds have the power of transmitting 
suggestions from subjective entity to subjective entity without 
objective intervention. That is, the transfer is subconscious 
on the part of operator and recipient. It is probable that all 
human minds have that power to a degree, but that those 
persons in whom this attribute is most strongly marked are 
those of whom it is customary to speak as ''magnetic" or 
"possessing strong personality." 

The phenomena of telepathy or "thought-transference" 
have been investigated far enough by strictly scientific experi- 
ment to show beyond a reasonable doubt, that subconscious 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 35 

minds do communicate one with another. In these communica- 
tions, material space is of no moment. Therefore, I beUeve 
that in treating by Natural Healing methods, objective sugges- 
tions are constantly supplemented by subconscious emanations 
from the operator's subjective entity, and the operator who 
most strongly influences patients in this way is the one who 
is most successful and, in common terms, is said to possess 
the most powerful personality. 

It is well said that almost every settled belief of mankind, 
no matter how wild and chimerical it may have become in 
the com*se of years, has had some basis of real fact from which 
it originated. Probably the strongest proof of immortality 
lies in the instinctive belief we all have in it, and in like manner 
it is probable that the very existence of any deep-rooted 
general belief, though it be manifestly an erroneous one, is 
an argument for its origin in truth. 

So great a number of people believe in what is known 
as animal magnetism as a curative agency that I am inclined 
to think that there really is some basis for belief in it. I think 
there must be some emanation of the human mind to account 
for the faith, which is so widespread, in the theory that one 
person can impart a healing magnetic current or current of 
nerve force or energy to others. 

I have no doubt that the many patients who ascribe 
their cm-es to the animal magnetism they suppose I possess 
have really been ciu-ed by the class of suggestions I have been 
discussing. All I claun is that anybody else could impart 
the same force if he had trained his subjective entity to the 
work for a sufficient time. I do not deny that many of the 
cures attained by Natural Healing methods are almost miracu- 
lous in their nature when viewed from a standpoint outside 
the knowledge of Natural laws, but they are miraculous in 



36 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

exactly the same way as a steam engine is a supernatural 
creature in the estimation of a savage. An untrained mind 
could not build the engine nor heal the sick, but properly 
trained it can do either. I consider that it is by systematic 
training in the use and practice of objective suggestion that the 
mind becomes capacitated for giving subjective suggestions of 
the kind I have been discussing. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Subjective Methods. 

use of subjective suggestions — attitude toward patient 
previous to treating him — subconscious continuance 
of treatment — what thought is — practical methods in 
absent treatment — examples of its effect. 

I HAVE made it a practice since I became aware of this 
telepathic potentiality which I believe exists in the sub- 
jective entity, to strive to direct it toward the treatment of 
a great number of cases. For instance, as soon as I am sum- 
moned to a new patient who is confined to his house, I seek to 
find out as much about the circumstances of the case as possible, 
the nature and duration of the trouble, and so forth. Then, 
before going to the patient, I sit down alone in quiet and make 
my mind passive, directing it to the patient I am to see. I 
make a mental picture of the patient and of his condition of 
disease, setting my will to work against the unhealthy condition 
that exists. I try to force my subjective mind to precede 
me to his bedside and to begin the work of preparing his sub- 
jective forces to rally to his physical aid. In the same way, 
I keep in mind at certain hours of the day all patients who 
need to have me do so, during all the time I am treating them. 
After every examination of a new patient, I adopt this 
method and I am confident that this telepathic communication 
is set up between me and many of my patients to their material 
benefit. Once having secured such a subjective connection 
between the minds of the operator and patient, it is not un- 
reasonable to believe that the subjective suggestions first 



38 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

given are repeated again and again indefinitely. A pebble 
thrown into the ocean, physicists tell us, creates a wave motion 
that would go on forever into infinite space if the water extended 
so far, and in the same way I believe that a suggestion once 
set in motion goes on repeating itself till stopped by an insur- 
mountable barrier of adverse force or is recalled by its sender. 

In my own experience with cases treated absently, I 
have found certain methods valuable, and these I will set 
down at this time, but students will find a wide field in this 
connection for the exercise of their own ingenuity and inventive 
resources. It cannot be too often repeated that every individ- 
ual case must be approached as though it was the only one 
of its kind that ever existed. Experience may prove the 
value of general methods, but their indiscriminate application 
to special cases must be carefully guarded against. 

It is, in general, harder to secure the confidence of a patient 
whom you are going to treat absently than that of one to 
whom you can talk and thus form your own impressions of 
his temperament and physical needs as well as impress hun 
with your own ability to help him. This being the case, I 
have usually found it valuable to write to the patient some- 
what at length, in the first instance, setting forth the power 
of the human mind to communicate with its fellows subcon- 
sciously or telepathically. 

Naturally all this has to be done in a manner and in 
language suited to the person you are addressing. You should 
explain that your highly trained mind can come in contact 
with the patient's mind and stimulate it to the performance 
of its duties in regulating the physical health. You can im- 
press him with the fact that you are going to teach him how 
to help himself. The wu-eless telegraph instrument which is 
actuated by the mysterious wave in the ether produced by 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 39 

its twin instrument many miles away, may be used as an illus- 
tration of the results which you are going to produce. A great 
many of the best scientists of the day believe that thought 
is simply a wave motion in the ether not dissimilar to the 
waves which produce light, magnetism and electricity. 

The patient should be instructed that in order to secure 
the good effects from such conmiunication between his mind 
and yours, it is necessary not only that you should send him 
these helpful suggestions and forces, but that he should be 
at the same time prepared to receive them. Consequently 
you should appoint certain periods of the day, from ten to 
twenty minutes in length, during which times the patient is 
to devote his whole attention to the treatment. Previous to 
receiving the treatment, the patient should retire to a quiet 
room and in solitude recline or sit at ease for some minutes, 
relaxing the body and mind as completely as possible. The 
eyes should be closed and the attention fixed upon the thought 
of the coming treatment, and upon the fact that curative 
forces are to be received from the operator. At the precise 
moment indicated for beginning the treatment, the patient 
should place one hand upon the back of the neck at the base 
of the brain, and the other either over the seat of the disease 
or at the base of the spine. Then during the time of treat- 
ment, the mind should be centered upon the receipt of telepathic 
force from the operator, and the patient may be directed to 
imagine, if possible, the force entering the hand which is upon 
the location of the disease and so passing through the system 
to the other hand. Many patients so directed will actually 
feel a sensation of mild tinglmg as from a gentle galvanic 
current. 

Of course the patient understands that during the periods 
when he is following the above instructions, the operator is 



40 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

concentrating his mind upon the case and is devoting the 
energy of his will to imparting the curative force. That this 
method is helpful in a great variety of cases cannot be doubted, 
for I have seen it exemplified in my practice too often to 
question it for an instant. 

I remember one case in which I sent the patient, a lady 
who had suffered years with rheumatism, an ordinary copper 
cent, with instructions to hold it firmly upon her forehead 
during the time of treatment. I suggested to her that the 
force would, by reason of her fixing her mind upon the coin, 
enter her body through its mediumship. This suggestion took 
effect so strongly that within two weeks after the receipt of 
the coin, she wrote me that the copper became so hot during 
the treatments that she could not retain it in her hand! But 
what was of the only real importance in the case, her rheumatism 
disappeared within a month after beginning the treatment 
and did not reappear, though she had been practically crippled 
with it for years. 

In another case, the wife of a prominent physician in a 
southern city applied to me for absent treatment for an in- 
ternal tumor. She could feel the force which I suggested 
she would feel, in a marked degree. She described it as similar 
to the sensation of mild electrical treatments. She never 
failed to feel it during the periods prescribed for treatment 
but could feel it at no other time, though I finally discontinued 
concentration upon her at the times set, because I felt confi- 
dent that the subconscious repetition would go on in her mind 
exactly the same, as indeed it did. 

Now I have no doubt that some will consider the sensa- 
tions these patients experienced to have been pure imagination, 
but the fact remains that one was cured of rheumatism and 
the other found the tumor materially decreased in size with 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 41 

every indication of its ultimate absorption without the surgical 
operation that was at first declared to be necessary to save 
-her life. Whatever the theory of any student or reader may 
be, these results, coupled with equal successes in many other 
cases, indicate to my mind that there is a force within us that 
can heal our bodies if we only get hold of the way to set it 
at work. 

The method of subjective suggestions as outlined above 
is of course to be supplemented by the use of such helpful 
suggestive formulas as have been indicated in a previous chapter 
for the self-help of patients treated directly. All the usual 
methods before outlined, including water-drinking and general 
hygienic measures may of course be as well made a part of 
absent treatment as of any other. Suiting the means chosen 
to the case in hand is the secret of success. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Acute Conditions. 

when drug medication is not only right but needful — 
when nature needs help — forces disregarded for 
years cannot be built up instantly — fallacies of so- 
called science — natural healing is common sense — 
wonderful results of a year of practice. 

IN previous chapters I have outlined a general system of 
treatment in accordance with the theory of Natural Healing. 

I have emphasized the facts that suggestion is the basis of 
all curative power and that the ingenuity and tact of the 
operator must guide him in the selection of suggestions to be 
used and in choosing the method of applying them to individual 
cases. 

In presenting brief general instructions for diagnosing 
certain diseases, and directions for treatment, I have no inten- 
tion of laying down hard and fast rules for the student. I 
intend simply to show how I have treated certain cases success- 
fully. By no means, however, do I mean to claim that other 
methods of procedure along the lines of Natural Healing may 
not be quite as efficacious. However the treatment may 
vary in details, the principles laid down in previous chapters 
must be rigidly adhered to. Let the operator gain his patient's 
confidence, create subjective faith in the treatment and secure 
the co-operation of the patient, and success is certain as sun- 
rise after dawn. 

It may be proper, before proceeding to the treatment of 
diseases, to call attention to one point which might otherwise 
confuse the student. It will be noticed that I do not attempt 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 4a 

the cure of acute disease conditions by Natural Healing methods, 
I have always been the advocate of stomach medication, within 
limits, in acute conditions arising from the action of germs 
or bacilli. The reason for this is in perfect accord with the 
theories I have heretofore advanced. An acute attack of a 
germ disease is not a functional disorder. The germs of disease 
are noxious organisms and are to be combatted like any other 
pests or vermin. 

Because I am a believer in the power of the subjective 
mind, there is no reason resulting from that belief to prevent 
me from attacking potato-beetles in my garden with Paris 
green, plant-lice in my conservatory with tobacco fumes, or 
rats in my domicile with strychnine. Just in the same way, 
when my human tenement is infested with bacilli, it is perfectly 
reasonable to aid nature to be rid of the vermin by killing 
them. It has been shown beyond question that certain prepa- 
rations of drugs are able to destroy certain disease germs by 
poisoning them to death. Such drugs the physicians term 
'^ specifics " for the diseases in question. It is therefore perfectly 
proper to administer these drugs in sufficient quantities during 
acute attacks of germ diseases in order to assist Nature to kill 
the germs. 

This does not at aU disregard or belittle the fact that 
Nature would, without the drugs, summon the subjective 
forces and cast off the germs. A perfectly well-nurtured and 
well-developed human frame would recover from any germ 
disease in time, unassisted by drugs, but these crises invariably 
come on suddenly, and, in the average person, Nature cannot 
rally the subjective forces quickly enough to destroy the in- 
vading germs before they have overcome the vitality and 
destroyed life. 

In a person of perfect development and vitality, the 
struggle between the life forces and the invaders would be a 



44 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

protracted, bitter and painful one, but the vital force would 
conquer in the end, if no specifics were used. Very few human 
constitutions, however, are fitted for such a struggle unaided. 

Every human organism would possess the requisite 
vitality and stamina to withstand these sudden incursions of 
the enemy if the subjective forces had been trained from infancy 
or early youth. It is the lack of knowledge of the forces within 
ourselves that makes the human frame subject to disease at 
all. Had the subjective forces of a man been trained from 
earliest youth, he would not only possess a physical develop- 
ment practically in^allnerable to germs of disease, but in the 
event of an attack occurring through some unusual circum- 
stances. Nature would be able to summon the subjective forces 
instantly to the point of attack and medicine would be needless. 
We cannot, however, put off the subjective education till a 
crisis is upon us and then build up in an hour the neglected 
structure of years. 

Therefore in acute attacks, medicine ought always to be 
resorted to. Once, however, the acute stage has been passed. 
Nature reasserts itseK, the subjective forces if properly directed, 
again co-ordinate the functions and convalescence ensues. 
During convalescence from an acute attack, suggestion is vastly 
better than any other ciu-ative agency. And as I have before 
stated, in all cases where a chronic state has resulted from 
the continued derangement of the functions, it is the only 
means to permanent and complete recovery. 

In exactly the same way, it is ridiculous and even criminal 
to treat the acute stages of injuries to the body by suggestion 
alone. Some cults of so-called scientists and others profess 
to treat fractures of bones and similar conditions solely by 
mental means. Such a procedure is not only grossly non- 
scientific, but worthy of all censure. Natural Healing makes 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 45 

no such pretensions for the very reason that it is scientific 
and based upon natural laws and not upon superstition or 
magic. 

Suppose the bone of the arm is fractm-ed. There is no 
attribute of the subjective mind which makes it natmral or 
likely that any force will be exerted to replace the portions 
of the fractured bone in position. There is no bodily function 
concerned in such a procedure nor is any provision made for 
such a contingency. 

True, when a fracture occurs, the subjective forces are 
immediately directed to the seat of the injury and a fluid is 
exuded from the ends of the fractured bone which will cause 
it to knit or cement itself together if the ends are in juxta- 
position, but this process would take place just as surely if 
the ends of the bone were twisted through the circumference 
of a circle as though they w^ere in their natural position. There- 
fore it is necessary that they should be placed in their proper 
relation to each other by mechanical means before the natural 
process of repair is allowed to take place. 

Once the bones have been placed correctly with relation 
to each other and held in that position by suitable appliances, 
Natrnre will perform its proper function of renovation, and at 
this time the progress and efficacy of the work can be hastened 
vastty by the right use of suggestion. There never was a 
remedy or a theory in the world that could not be run into 
the ground by too anxious endeavor to make it fit imnatural 
conditions. The student may rest assured that the theory of 
Natural Healing is unassailably correct, but like every other 
good and perfect thing, it must be applied with common 
sense. 

In the same spirit of intelligent application of Natural 
truths, we must recognize that every operator will find cases 



46 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

in the course of his practice that he cannot seemingly benefit 
or cure. 

In a certain year of my practice, carefully kept records 
of every case I undertook revealed the fact that nearly eighty 
per cent, of my patients, many hundreds in number, expressed 
themselves as materially benefited or entirely cured. The 
remaining twenty per cent, included such patients as did not 
voluntarily express themselves as to the results of the treat- 
ment, together with those others who took only one or two 
treatments and made no report whatever upon their subse- 
quent condition. Of this latter class, I have heard in indirect 
ways from several who were completely cured and hence had 
no further need to come to my office. StUl I have no doubt 
that there was a certain small percentage who received no 
benefit they could perceive. That fact does not by any means 
assail the value of Natural Healing. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Some Popular Misconceptions. 

seemingly miraculous cures not always an advantage — 
superstition still exists — trying to sit upon two 
stools — opposing the operator yet hoping for help. 

ANY exponent of a system not universally understood is 
certain to meet with opposition. Sometimes it is the 
active opposition of the unbeliever, sincere or other- 
wise, and more often it is the opposition of ignorance that 
will not consent to receive the benefit the operator is anxious 
to confer. 

A great many patients look for sudden and seemingly 
magical cures. It is almost invariably that class of cures that 
is bruited abroad most widely. It occasionally happens that 
a severe case of a dangerous malady will be cured by Natural 
Healing agencies in only one or two treatments. This simply 
means that the patient so cured has happened to be especially 
suitable, temperamentally, for such a success, and also that 
the operator has succeeded in securing the necessary subjective 
attention in shorter time than is usually required. Such an 
outcome of a case is to be explained simply upon the lines 
of what has been said before with reference to temperamental 
make-up and the securing of co-operation between patient 
and operator. 

But to a portion of the public it seems miraculous. The 
fame of the operator goes forth more like that of a magician 
than that of a healer applying a purely scientific remedial 



48 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

agency. The result is that scores of people who have not 
the slightest comprehension of their own vital forces, rush to 
consult the operator, expecting to be healed instantly by some 
hocus-pocus worthy of the darkest days of superstition. There 
may not be a single case among them capable of such an out- 
come as attended the original case. But if the healer does 
not cure every one of them in an instant, despite their ignorance 
and half-concealed disbelief, they are prone to brand him as 
a fraud. Always strive to impress patients with the fact that 
it takes time to build up the forces they have long neglected 
and been unaware of. 

In a certain number of cases that I have remarked, patients 
have stopped taking treatments after what they considered to 
be a fair trial, resulting as it seemed to them only in slight 
benefit. Afterwards, however, their condition constantly im- 
proved till complete recovery ensued. This I consider to 
have been the result of subconscious continuation of the 
treatment. The suggestions given during the treatments had 
begun to have their effect and the subjective forces once set 
in motion, continued the good work after the patient had 
objectively ceased treatment. For this reason, I always urge 
patience and persistence in treatment even though immediate 
results be not fully up to the sufferer's hopes. 

I have no doubt that occasionally the very belief in the 
possibility of a miraculous cure is a most potent suggestion 
and may in some cases be strong enough to effect just that 
result, but nine out of ten who approach the subject with 
any such superstitious or ignorant attitude toward it, are 
half-doubtful after all and so get nowhere. They are too far 
emerged from superstition really to believe in anything miracu- 
lous, but they are not sufficiently enlightened to grasp the 
real significance of subjective phenomena, so that their small 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 49 

knowledge is a disastrous thing and, between two stools, they 
sit upon neither. 

This is the class of patients who do nothing to aid the 
operator and who rather hamper him than otherwise by their 
secret attitude of opposition. Most of such patients labor 
under the delusion that they are laying themselves liable to 
the imputation of weak-mindedness by having anything to do 
with such a method of healing the sick. At heart they are 
superstitious and ashamed of it, not realizing that the deepest 
truths of exact science are concerned in the attempt to cure 
them. They can believe in a science that typifies itself in a 
sugar-coated pill, but a science that deals with the human 
soul is an undreamed-of element in their philosophy. I have 
known patients to approach the subject of mental therapeutics 
in the same spirit in which they would consult a clairvoyant, 
palmist, fortune-teller, or other vulgar fraud; that is, with an 
air of shamefaced bravado, fearful lest some one should see 
them enter the office! Is it wonderful that such as these 
should require some little time to learn whereof they speak 
and to harmonize themselves with eternal truth? 

But let a patient place himself unreservedly in the operator's 
hands, seek to follow his directions implicitly, and, in short, 
faithfully to comply with Natural laws, and he cannot fail of 
benefit. 



CHAPTER IX. 
How TO Succeed. 

THE OPERATOR HIS OWN BEST SUGGESTION — ATTITUDE TOWARD 
PATIENTS — RIGHT LIVING — HEALTH IS BEST WHEN FORGOTTEN 
— EMOTIONS REFLECTED IN PHYSICAL CONDITIONS — COST OF 
WRONG THINKING— SELFISHNESS THE ROOT OF ALL ERROR. 

THE operator should always remember that he himself is 
perhaps the most potent of all suggestions to a patient. 
He should never betray any anxiety or uncertainty about 
a case and should never under any circumstances allow a patient 
to perceive that he considers his condition less favorable than 
on some previous occasion. It often requires very great self- 
control to prevent a patient from getting unfavorable or dis- 
couraging suggestions in this way. A sick person is frequently 
much more keenly observant than a well one and instinctively 
he watches the countenance of the healer or physician for an 
indication of his real condition. It is the operator who makes 
his own personality the strongest suggestion for good that 
wins the greatest success. 

It is always best to tell a patient in a cheery tone that 
he is looking better than it is to ask him how he feels. Some 
patients feel it a part of the duty incumbent on ill-health 
to reply to such questions in a mournful and deprecatory 
tone, seeking for bad symptoms and admitting improvement 
grudgingly. Needless to say, this attitude is a producer of 
unnecessary adverse suggestions, and should be nipped in the 
bud when possible. A good, cheery suggestion is better at 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 51 

any time than an inquiry which in itself admits of a doubt 
as to improvement. 

The preservation of health is something that is of vital 
interest to everybody, but only too frequently the very care- 
fulness that it engenders defeats its own purpose. How many 
people do we meet whose whole minds are centered upon the 
minor ills and ailments of life and whose sole thought seems 
to be the apprehension of physical illness. There are of coiu-se 
certain essential rules of hygiene which need to be observed 
in order to maintain physical health, but beyond them, the 
very best attitude that can be taken toward physical conditions 
is to forget them. 

If people will attend to securing proper nourishment, 
fresh air, sunlight, out-of-door exercise and bodily cleanliness, 
they need to have no further thought with reference to the 
condition of the body. A proper regard for the above elements 
of physical well-being is ennobling and uplifting to the mind, 
but a petty, fussy care and constant fear of incurring ill from 
the ordinary experiences of life, is useless and hurtful. 

People who are in a perpetual ferment over the danger 
of taking cold, inhaling noxious germs, eating unwholesome 
substances, catching some sort of infection wherever they go 
or in otherwise incurring some dire evil that exists largely 
in their own imaginations, never have any peace of mind, 
and in time degenerate into petty, small-minded, selfish and 
self-centered beings who are alike a trial to themselves and 
to those with whom they come in contact. What they need 
to learn is that the physical health demands proper care but 
less attention. Take the proper hygienic precautions with 
reference to the body, then let it alone. Examining the state 
of the health every hour of the day with the object of striving 
to find flaws in it, is like setting out a choice plant in a garden 



52 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

under all favorable conditions for its growth and then pulling 
it up daily to see if its roots have sprouted and taken hold 
upon the soil! 

Forgetting one's seK is one of the best rules for human 
happiness that was ever laid down. The person who lives 
from within outward has an estimable advantage over the 
one who lives from without inward. A self-centered man is 
always an unhappy one because his sphere is so extremely 
small! And the longer he fixes his attention upon himself 
as the sole object worthy of notice in the scheme of creation 
the smaller his object of adoration really becomes! The selfish 
man is always a petty one. He does not think with anybody 
but himself and there has been quite an appreciable amount 
of thinking going on in the universe, in all probability, outside 
of his own entity! But the unselfish man lives from within 
outward, and he thinks with the best of his fellow men, and 
so comes to think with the Divine Intelligence as well. 

It is well known that the evil passions which animate 
the hearts of human kind exercise a direct chemical action 
upon their physical structure. Noted scientists have gone so 
far as to analyze the perspiration and the saliva of men strongly 
under the influence of the passions of rage, revenge, jealousy, 
etc., and from these tests, without other knowledge, to determine 
what one of the emotions named had possession of the subject 
at the time. For every one of these passions defines itself in 
the formation of its own particular poisonous substance in 
the physical excretions. Who has not seen the victim of 
raging anger or grief almost prostrated, with wildly beating 
pulse, high fever, and racking headache after a paroxysm of 
such emotion? How many cases of apoplexy and death have 
resulted from giving way to unbridled wrath, often over absurdly 
trivial matters? 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 53 

On the other hand, what physical well-being and manifest 
enjoyment of living is to be seen in the form and face of the 
man whose life is calm and well-regulated, and full of good 
will and good deeds toward his fellow men. That virtue is 
its own reward is true as Holy Writ, but not in the pessimistic 
sense in which the saying is most often quoted. It is true, 
because no man can do good toward his fellow men without 
reaping the largest portion of it himself. 

Evil passions cost him who harbors them more than they 
cost the object of them. It has been well said that revenge, 
of all human feelings, promises more than any other and repays 
the least. It promises its possessor the keenest of pleasure, 
and it turns into ashes in his hand the moment he has attained 
it. And all the course of its pursuit is but blowing upon the 
embers of a flame that consumes the heart in which it rests. 

'' I'll get even with him, " is often heard uttered by a person 
who has suffered a real or a fancied injury. No doubt the 
saying will come true. It can happen in two ways: either 
you will repay the injury in kind and so you will be even with 
the aggressor by lowering yourself to his level; or you will 
requite it with kindness and, in the language of the Scripture, 
''heap coals of fire upon his head'' until you have raised him 
up to yours. Probably the latter method will actually furnish 
the most satisfactory returns, unless you prefer the lower 
level for yourself. 

Selfishness is the root of all error, and ignorance is the 
root of all selfishness. The ignorant man hopes to better 
himself by thinking of himself alone, and therein lies the whole 
reason for the errors of our lives. 



PART II. 



CHAPTER I. 

Diseases and Their Treatment. 

adapting theory to practice — diagnosis — why special 
cases are outlined — rheumatism — cause — symptoms — 

treatment — typical cases — patrolman r 's cure — 

how ad^^erse suggestions work — neuralgia — sciatica. 

THE treatment of various diseases by Natural Healing 
requires less variety of method than most systems, 
because the theory of suggestion implies general, rather 
than local treatment in most instances. It is the operator's first 
aim, after having stilled whatever acute pain may exist, to build 
up the general system of the patient, arouse his latent forces 
and direct the power that is within him to eradicate all physical 
conditions which make disease possible. Since this is true, 
there need never be any fear of applying the whole practice 
of Natural Healing to any specific case, within the limits that 
ordinary good judgment should define, and the operator has 
no need of any very complicated sj^stem of varying his treat- 
ment to suit different diseases. It is, nevertheless, weU to 
adopt certain methods of applying the general practice in a 
variety of ailments; and in the following chapters I shall aim 
to outline the devices which I have found most satisfactory 
in the course of my own work. 

Details of actual cases are given in order that they may 
furnish the student with types by which he may judge methods 
and results. Brief directions for diagnosis of cases may also 
help some students and readers. It is, of course, impossible 
for very many who may be able to do effective work as Natural 



58 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

Healers, even to attempt the making of expert diagnoses. 
But an intelligent knowledge of the symptoms of ordinary- 
diseases will be found essential. There are certain physical 
conditions which indicate definite physical causes, and recogni- 
tion of these will be necessary to the operator. It very often 
happens that patients believe themselves to be suffering from 
ailments entirely different from what they really have. If an 
operator can disabuse a patient of such an impression, he has 
already gone far toward getting his mind in proper attitude 
to receive help. A sick person who can be made to regard 
his sickness in really correct perspective is rare, and it is almost 
always true that he exaggerates the discomfort and danger 
of his condition. It is therefore necessary for an operator to 
be able to form a just estimate for himself of the real gravity 
of a case in order to do the best work. The operator should 
avoid, however, allowing his anxiety concerning his patient 
to be reflected in his face or tone, and he should especially 
guard against allowing an atmosphere of doubt or despair 
regarding a case to permeate even his own mind, lest 
subconsciously it be reflected in the mind of the 
patient. 

At best, only a few general symptoms of the common 
diseases can be given, but it is hoped that they will be enough 
to guide the student in making right conclusions in this portion 
of his work. Experience and the study of proper reference 
books are the only two means to gaining an ability to make 
correct diagnoses. Students should not make the mistake of 
attempting the treatment of acute conditions, for reasons that 
have been explained. Nature cannot rally its forces quickly 
enough to combat a fever or any such crisis, unaided, but 
once the crisis is passed, the forces of suggestion can be brought 
into play to great advantage. 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 59 

Perhaps one of the most frequent diseases which the 
student will be required to treat is 

RHEUMATISM. 

No ill that flesh is heir to more thoroughly illustrates 
the truth of what has been said about the medical treatment 
of disease. The great majority of rheumatic cases become 
chronic, and no medicines known will cure rheumatism after 
it has become a settled condition, but I have cured the disease 
in chronic stages in a large number of cases. It takes time, 
to be sure, but I know of no other way of curing it except by 
methods of suggestion. Rheumatism frequently originates 
from taking sudden cold, contact with damp ground or residence 
in damp swampy localities. It is sometimes ushered in by a 
violent acute condition in which the patient is taken suddenly 
with very violent pains in the joints accompanied by high 
fever. The joints swell rapidly and are almost unbearably 
sore to the touch. After the fever has subsided, the disease 
frequently becomes chronic and there is more or less constant 
pain and swelling. If this condition becomes a settled one, 
after many months or years, the joints become permanently 
set and often badly twisted or distorted. This is caused by 
the hardening or destruction of the synovial fluid of the joints 
and the roughening and inflammation of the membranes lining 
them. This condition is practically incurable by any means. 
The synovial fluid when wholly vanished or changed into 
calcareous deposits, cannot be restored any more than the 
punctured ear drum or the amputated limb. Nature makes 
no effort to effect such a restoration. However, before this 
final stage is reached, it is possible to set restorative forces 
to work by means of which the circulation can be made to 



60 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

carry off the impurities which cause the condition and check 
the ravages of the disease. 

The cause of rheumatism is claimed by many to be uric 
acid in the blood, produced by non-digestion and poor assimila- 
tion of food. At least, an acid condition generally accompanies it. 

It should be noted that the acute condition called rheu- 
matic fever occurs in only a comparatively few cases, and 
unless this appears at the outset, it is perfectly proper to use 
suggestive methods at any stage of the disease. 

Rheumatism may be distinguished by the dull, grinding 
and often occasional nature of the pain, together with the 
swelling of the joints and the puffed appearance they present, 
as well as the location of pain in them. Rheumatism also 
settles in the muscles in some instances and is then called 
muscular rheumatism; or in the sciatic nerve, when it is known 
as sciatica. 

Neuralgia is a rheumatic condition locating in the nerves 
and is paroxysmal in nature and excruciatingly painful. ^\Tien 
it locates in the facial nerves it is known as tic-doloreux. 

The treatment for rheumatism should begin with thorough 
but gentle examination of the parts affected and the usual 
passes and vibratory movements made to secure the patient's 
attention, with the object of relieving whatever pain may 
exist. As soon as the patient is relieved so that he can be 
interested, the operator should explain what he plans to do, 
namely, eliminate the conditions which produce the disease 
by arousing the patient's own inward forces. All success 
depends upon getting the co-operation of the patient and 
making him understand the principles that have been outlined 
heretofore. 

Then, securing the patient's attention by fixing the eyes 
steadily upon his, proceed to arouse the solar plexus and stimu- 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 61 

late the digestional functions as before directed. Explain to 
the patient that as you pass the hand over his body and affected 
joints, the circulation will be stimulated and directed to the 
parts, thus absorbing and bearing away the impurities to be 
eliminated from the body by the natural channels. At the 
same time, the stimulation of the solar plexus will arouse the 
activity of the digestive and excretory organs to take care 
of the burden the blood is to bring them. Instruct the patient 
to drink large quantities of water, not less than three quarts 
daily, in order to assist the natural process of elimination 
that you are about to set up. 

When the rheumatism is in the lower limbs, it is very 
often possible to effect a complete cure in the first treatment 
by seizing the proper moment when the patient's attention 
has been secured and fixed upon the affected part and ordering 
him in a firm tone to lay aside his cane or crutch and walk. 
Assure him that he can do so without pain or discomfort, 
and that when he has done so, the pain will not return. In 
a large majority of cases the result will be that the patient 
will walk off without help and will declare himself greatly 
improved. The second treatment will often put such patients 
so far on the road to convalescence that nothing further w^ill 
need to be done for them. Nature wiU take care of the process 
of renovation and elimination from that time on. 

All the time a patient is being treated, it is of course neces- 
sary for the operator to fix his mind firmly upon the fact that 
he is going to help the patient, that the patient is going to be 
better, must be better. One must always intend to do a thing 
before he can do it, and so a fixed, definite intention to cure 
the special case in hand should always be the operator's atti- 
tude toward the patient. The best practice is to explain to 
the patient as you go along the object and intention of each 



62 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

portion of the treatment. It engenders his confidence alike 
in the operator and in the treatment, and it aids in directing 
his attention to the affected part. This very attention is 
what will send his subjective forces to work there, equallizing 
the circulation and stimulating the cells to eliminate and 
recuperate. 

A case of the type mentioned above came to my notice 
some time ago. Patrolman Wm. R. R of the Worces- 
ter police force was stricken with rheumatism in a very painful 
form. It settled in his feet and they swelled badly and made 
it impossible for him to wear his shoes or to appear on duty. 
He came limping to my office to be treated, though he had 
manifestly little hope of relief. I made the usual examination, 
told him what I was going to do, and stimulated the neces- 
sary centers. Then after vibrating the feet slightly, I told 
him I had cured him; that he could put on his shoes and go 
out. He did so and before the day was over the swelling 
had practically disappeared. There was a slight recurrence 
on the second day after, but a treatment promptly overcame 
it, and he had no further trouble. This was a typical case 
where the patient's attention and the operator's intention 
combined to produce a condition in which the surprise of a 
command to "walk out, cured," turned the scale from sick- 
ness to convalescence. 

The case of Frank G. S , of Spencer, Mass., showed 

that the same forces can be set to work in the same manner, 

even when the disease is of long standing. Mr. S had 

been crippled with rheumatism for a number of years, but 
though he was bent over as the result of it, his joints were 
not set. I first went to his house to treat him and foimd him 
on crutches. After a few minutes' treatment, I suddenly 
commanded him to walk out of doors, for I had seen that 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 63 

I had secured his attention and that the very suggestion of 
my expected visit had prepared him for a cure. He walked 
out without crutches, after some demurring, and joined in 
the sport of some children playing about the yard. 

The following day he came to Worcester and walked 
perhaps one- third of a mile over city pavements without trouble. 
Gradually the subjective forces began to overcome the effects 
of the long-standing condition and he steadily improved. 
In the course of his convalescence he came in contact with 
some one who opposed his progress with adverse suggestions, 
and for a time he did not improve, but after that influence 
was overcome, the advance toward health continued. 

One of the greatest difficulties always to be encountered 
is the adverse influence of those who are most sincerely inter- 
ested in the patient. Strange as it may seem, those nearest 
to a convalescent patient, both by kin and affection, are often 
those who retard his recovery most. They may not under- 
stand the method by which he is being helped or it may run 
contrary to their preconceived ideas, but they surround the 
patient with an air of incredulity or amused ridicule which 
is fatal to his progress. Doubt and the fear of being thought 
weak-minded or credulous invade the patient's mind and 
swiftly undo all the good that the operator can attain in many 
treatments. It is strange that the most loving of relatives 
and friends frequently value their own opinions and prejudices 
higher than the health and welfare of those near to them, 
though they would be shocked and indignant were any one 
to tell them so. 

NEURALGIA 

is one of the most painful forms of disease known, and results, 
like other rheumatic troubles, from exposure to cold and damp- 



64 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

ness, and from the effects of drugs or stimulants which affect 
the nerve tissue. 

The cause of neuralgia is very frequently found in the 
stomach, though often local interferences cause certain sets of 
nerves to be affected. Neuralgia may be generally diagnosed 
by the shooting or streaming nature of the pain and its spas- 
modic recurrence. Inflammation accompanying neuralgia is 
different from that of rheumatism when it is present at all, 
though neuralgia is not always accompanied by inflammation. 
A neuralgia that has been of long duration and become settled 
in a certain set of muscles is known as neuritis, though the 
term is most properly applied to neuralgia affecting the iilnar 
nerve. 

Neuralgia is best treated by passes over the affected part» 
accompanied by strong suggestions intended to still the pain. 
Vibration at the base of the brain is often effectual, and, as- 
in all cases, the general treatment should be commenced at 
once in order to start the process of renovation. The patient 
generally will be found to be eating too much food and drink- 
ing too little water. 

SCIATICA 

is one of the most painful forms of rheumatism or neuralgia. 
It seems to partake of the natm-e of each. The pain is most, 
excruciating and follows the course of the sciatic nerve from 
its point of emerging from the body, down the back of the 
legs to the feet. A patient so afflicted is imable to walk and 
suffers greatly. Medicine is not found to have any very bene- 
ficial effect. Very often surgery is resorted to and some 
extremely rigorous expedients have been resorted to, like 
opening the patient's leg and stretching the nerve by mechanical 
means. 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 65 

The mind, however, has the power to cure sciatica without 
any of these horrors, and in a number of cases which have 
occiu'red in my practice, I have succeeded in relieving and 
finally curing it, b}^ the simplest suggestive means. 

Mr. C , a business man of Grafton, Mass., about thirty- 
five years of age, was a great sufferer with sciatica. He came 
to me one morning in much pain and I treated him by placing 
one hand upon his shoulder and passing the other along the 
course of the affected nerve, while I informed him that the circu- 
lation would now be stimulated and the pain would cease. 
He went away relieved and felt better nearly all day, but at 
night was taken violently ill with sickness at the stomach 
and much pain in the affected leg. He had to have an opiate 
administered. In the morning, however, the pain ceased and 
he came to me. I treated him once more, and told him the sick- 
ness and violent pain were just what he needed and what I had 
expected he would have. From that time on, he had no more 
pain, the soreness disappeared, and he has had no recurrence 
of the trouble though that was a year ago. 

His case was one in which it was possible to arouse and 
set working the subjective forces in a short time, and I believe 
the severe experience he had at night was simply the result 
of Nature's supreme effort to throw off the disease. It is to 
be noted that those patients who exhibit strong nausea and 
a violent paroxysm of the trouble a few hours after the first 
or second treatment, may almost infallibly expect to experience 
sudden and often phenomenal cures. When the Natural forces 
make so sudden and so strong an effort to throw off diseased 
conditions, the effort is usually very successful. 



CHAPTER 11. 

Nervous Derangements. 

the american disease — too fast a pace — cure for neuras- 
thenia — hygienic regulations — lumbago — mr. a 's 

typical case — policeman l cured of long standing 

LUMBAGO. 

NO disease, not even excepting tuberculosis, is so common 
in this age as is the ailment known as nervous prostra- 
tion or nervous exhaustion. It is often termed 'Hhe 
American disease'^ from its great prevalence in this country, 
and from the fact that its origin is supposed to lie in the high 
tension of life in America. It is characterized by a great variety 
of symptoms and may lead to the most serious consequences. It 
is regarded as being the outcome of over-stress placed on the 
nervous system together with insufficient nutrition, resulting in a 
deterioration of the fibre forming the nerve sheathes. It is 
a condition that results from a long continuance of its causes, 
and consequently is one that requires a lengthy period of 
recuperation. 

Its symptoms are far too many for enumeration and vary 
greatly in each individual case. In general, there is lassitude, 
emaciation, indigestion and dyspepsia, oftentimes vertigo and 
heart palpitation. Inability to fix the mind on work or study, 
feeling of complete bodily exhaustion, depression of spirits, 
and a great variety of different symptoms, some of which 
almost border on hallucinations, mark the disease. If un- 
checked, it may develop into softening of the brain and insanity, 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 67 

though many cases simply degenerate into a state of chronic 
invalidism which lasts for years or for life. 

Nervous prostration or neurasthenia is a disease that can 
be cured only by a long and faithful course of treatment. It 
is no use for a patient to look for a magical or miraculous cure 
as the result of two or three treatments. Physicians will 
admit that there is no medicine known which is of any use 
in this trouble. If they do not openly admit it, they do so 
tacitly, from the fact that the many sanitariums devoted to 
its treatment do not resort to medicine at all except for other 
ailments existing at the same time. 

Neurasthenia can be cured only by a long course of recu- 
perative effort on the part of the Natural forces coupled with 
an abolition of the causes which have brought on the condition. 
The patient must abstain from whatever has been the cause 
of the condition, be it over-work, improper diet or indulgence 
in habits of drug taking. Not even in rheumatism, is there 
so much need of copious water drinking as there is in any 
severe nervous disorder. A nourishing diet, consisting largely 
of milk and cream if they can be taken should be insisted upon. 
Regular out-of-door exercise is essential and a general outdoor 
life is very beneficial. 

If these hygienic regulations are attended to strictly, 
recovery may ensue in a long course of months without any 
other treatment. In ordinary medical practice, that is all 
the hope that is held out to patients. Nature is simply left 
to repair by the slow process of time the ravages made in the 
nerve structure. Natural Healing, however, offers the only 
known method of shortening this period of recuperation. It 
does not neglect the proper direction and control of the Natural 
forces as does every other system. The policy of letting recovery 
drag along with no stimulation of the curative forces is like 



68 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

an attempt to get up steam in a boiler with the fires all banked 
and the dampers shut tight. The methods used by the Natural 
Healer stir up the fires, and turn on the forced draught, so 
that the engine proceeds to work anew with vital force and 
pressure behind it. 

The treatment for nervous prostration should be unre- 
mitting. The general treatment of stimulating the centers 
and the functions is the most important and should be carried 
on systematically every day. All the resources of auto-sugges- 
tion and self-help for the patient should be brought into play, 
and suggestions to combat the feeling of despondency which 
characterizes the disease should be constant. It is safe to 
say that the time of recovery from nervous prostration can 
be reduced fifty per cent, by careful attention to the general 
theory of suggestion. The operator needs to take the patient's 
case right upon his own shoulders and use every expedient, 
objective and subjective, that will tend to direct the sufferer's 
own mind to the recuperation of his nervous system. 

Once the patient's confidence is secured, the work of 
recovery is begun and it will progress with gratifying celerity. 
The general bodily health will be found to improve, and as 
it does so, the patient's progress will be increasingly rapid. 
In this day of vast numbers of nervous sufferers, operators 
thoroughly understanding the treatment and cure of the disease 
will find fruitful and lucrative fields of practice. They will 
render untold service to their fellow men and will reap sub- 
stantial rewards for themselves. 

LUMBAGO 

is a painful affection that not infrequently precedes and ushers 
in sciatica. It is of rheumatic origin and results from a debili- 
tated condition during which the patient happens to fall victim 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 69 

to a severe cold. The cold settles in the back m the region 
of the lumbar vertibrae. There is much soreness and pain 
across the small of the back and not infrequently the patient 
believes himself to be attacked by kidney trouble. There is 
often great difficulty in straightening up, spasms of pain seizing 
the patient as he strives to do so. If neglected or not checked, 
the pain and soreness is frequently communicated to the sciatic 
nerve and all the excruciating discomforts of severe sciatica 
develop. 

One typical case of lumbago in my practice of several 
years ago I remember particularly. Mr. C. S. A , a well- 
known merchant of Worcester, was attacked by lumbago 
and suffered severely for some time before I was called to 
attend him. I went to his place of business and found him 
just able to keep about, every movement giving him great 
pain. I determined on rapid procedure, for his first words 
were to the effect that he did not believe I could help him. 
I held his gaze for a few minutes, firmly willing that he should 
give me his confidence and be helped. Then, suddenly, I 
passed my hands twice down his back rapidly and firmly. 
'^ Straighten up,^' I ordered, and he did so. '^Bend far over,'' 
was the next direction and he obeyed without demur or diffi- 
culty. ''You are cured,'' I said — and he was! Another 
treatment removed the soreness from the back and there was 
no recurrence of the trouble. 

Patrolman Henry Laviolette of the Worcester police force 
was also a sufferer from lumbago, and for a long time was not 
able to stand up straight and walked with much difficulty 
and pain. With him I adopted a not dissimilar course, for 
I considered the initial impression made by the recommendation 
of a friend who sent him to me to be sufficient to establish 
confidence or ''rapport." I scarcely touched him, but almost 



70 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING, 

instantly ordered him to lay his cap on the floor and pick 
it up again, which he did to his own great surprise, as he declared 
he could not stoop half way to the floor without agony when 
he entered the room. After a few manipulations, he was 
able to turn and twist his body in any manner without great 
discomfort, and in the course of brief subsequent attention 
to his case, I completely removed his trouble, which has not 
recurred during the several years that have elapsed. Strong 
will and intent to cure, together with self-confidence on the 
part of the operator; confidence secured and subjective faith 
engendered in the patient; this is the secret of curative success. 



CHAPTER III. 

Subjective Suggestions. 

what are they — subjective relationships — subtle forces 
of the mind — remarkable instance of telepathic com- 
munication — miss l 's strange experience — how the 

healer assumes his patients' ills — examples in my 
practice. 

W^ 7HILE it is true as I have stated so emphatically in the 
\/\/ foregoing chapters, that the force which cures is 
within the patient himself, yet the subtle relation- 
ships which may come to exist between the minds of patient 
and operator are worthy of the greatest consideration and 
they may form an important factor in effecting cures. The 
two minds must be in harmony with each other of course, 
according to the basic theory of Natural Healing. 

If the mind of the operator cannot exert the right influence 
upon the patient's subjective entity, the latter cannot be 
stimulated and taught to realize its benign potentiality over 
the physical being. When the two mentalities are in harmony 
or ''en rapport" as the French expression happily puts it, 
the subtle and elusive relationship that exists between them 
furnishes one of the most interesting fields of investigation 
for the reader. Some curious instances of this relationship 
may prove interesting to students, though I cannot say they 
are valuable except as they show how the establishment of 
this harmony reveals itself in cases where real success is ob- 
tained. 

One of my patients, Miss M. L , a lady of nearly middle 

age and decided intellectual ability, had suffered a considerable 



72 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING, 

length of time with nervous exhaustion, she being naturally 
of a neurasthenic temperament. She took a number of treat- 
ments at my office and showed herself a willing and intelligent 
patient. She was already acquainted with many psychological 
principles and it was not a difficult task to instil the requisite 
subjective faith and to convince her of the efficacy of the 
treatment. After being treated some little time and receiving 
an appreciable amount of benefit, she went to a country resort 
one hundred miles away for a vacation period. The incidents 
which followed were told me by the lady herself, and of course 
I had no other objective knowledge of them. I had, however, 
been interested in her case and had determined that my mind 
should continue to be in touch with hers in order that she 
might lose none of the good effects of the treatment she had 
been taking. 

Every day, during the four weeks she was absent, the 
lady assured me, I appeared to her at certain hours, and treated 
her. The phantasm, if such it is to be called, would appear 
generally when she was walking alone or in company with 
others, or when sitting out-of-doors. At such times it would 
apparently give her treatments in the exact manner I had 
been accustomed to in my office. There was no objective 
anticipation of the manifestation on her part and she was 
greatly surprised and puzzled over it, not to say terrified, 
when it first occurred. She first thought it purely imagination 
and strove to dismiss it as nonsensical. Later she began to 
be seriously disturbed lest her brain might be affected, but 
as a matter of truth, there never has been the slightest reason 
for such an explanation. 

The appearance of the manifestation was hard to describe, 
she said. In general it had the appearance of myself, but it 
was something felt rather than objectively seen. It never 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 73 

withstood the scrutiny of objective vision. Still she was fully 
conscious of its presence at various hoiirs which had no regu- 
larity of recurrence, and she was sure she was always keenly 
alive to all objective impressions at the times in question. At 
length she began to dislike the manifestation and grew almost 
morbid over it, setting her will strongly against its recurrence, 
whereupon it soon stopped appearing. Soon after, she re- 
turned to her home, resumed regular treatments and was 
finally very materially benefited. 

Now, I am perfectly frank in saying that, except casually, 
I did not think of the patient in question while she was absent. 
But I had very firmly impressed it upon my mind previous 
to her going away that my treatment should lose none of its 
force while she was gone; that the improvement should be 
continuous and that my subjective suggestions should go out 
to her all the time she was gone. 

I have said that I firmly believe in the subconscious 
repetition of suggestions by minds trained to that end, and 
I am confident that my intention was so strong that it actually 
manifested itself in the manner related. Of course this is an 
exceptional case, but it illustrates the unfailing power of sugges- 
tion when once set in force, according to my belief. It will 
"be noted that the manifestation repeated itself under all sorts 
of circumstances until she herself willed that it should not 
do so further. The suggestion went on indefinitely till turned 
back by a stronger adverse one. 

Occasionally, though fortunately that is not commonly 
the case, the operator finds that he takes on for a short time 
at least, some of the symptoms of his patients. I have treated 
a few cases where this was so, but I think no operator ever 
need be afraid of such a thing doing him material injury, for 
if he is strong enough to assume the burdens of another, he 



74 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

is strong enough to throw them off. I never had any lasting 
ill-effects from such a cause, yet some of the instances of which 
I speak are curious and may be of interest. 

It has occasionally happened that in treating cases of 
neuritis or of swelling and inflammation resulting from strains 
or injuries that I have felt exactly the same muscles affected 
as the patient complained of. This condition never persisted 
more than a few hours, however. 

In one instance I remember, the patient, a Mr. M , 

about forty-five years of age, was troubled, among other things, 
by a difficulty in controlling the action of the kidneys and 
bladder. It became a source of the most constant annoyance 
to him, and when I was called to see him it was the first thing 
I strove to alleviate. I proceeded in the usual manner to 
stimulate the general nervous system and digestive functions, 
and then made a few transverse passes across the region 
of the kidneys with the express purpose, as I told him, of 
strengthening the retentive powers of the urinary tract. To 
my own great surprise, I was immediately seized with a very 
unusual activity of the kidneys, which made itself unmistakably 
noticeable to me. 

I had very strongly willed him to be relieved in that respect 
and here again the remarkable harmony that can be made to 
exist between minds showed itself. Of coiu-se the experience 
was only temporary with me, while with him there was no 
subsequent recurrence of his trouble. He was cured of it at 
once. From that time on his general health improved. Just 
previous to my visit to him, he had fallen to the ground four 
times in a single day as the result of vertigo attendant on his 
condition. Afterward he was able to go about the streets 
alone with considerable freedom. I have no doubt that time 
will witness his complete restoration to health. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Asthma. 

cause is nervous and digestional — relief by abolishing 
conditions of cause — bronchitis — diabetes mellitus — 
recognition of natural healing by old schools in 
treating diabetes. 

A DISEASE very common in New England and prevalent 
everjrwhere. It is evidenced by irritation of the mucous 
membrane of the lungs and bronchial tubes. It is a 
disease that originates in a great variety of causes and seems to 
be the result of nervous and digestional disturbances. It is very 
distressing, the patient being unable to breathe except with the 
greatest difficulty, and when its spasmodic attacks are at their 
worst, the sufferer shows all the symptoms of strangulation. 
The effects of damp climate, cold, irritation of stomach, lungs 
and other organs, overstudy or excess of mental activity, 
suppressed functions and other causes are alleged to produce 
asthma. 

Asthma is almost invariably accompanied by constipation, 
and it is not at all improbable that the infection of the blood 
arising from this condition is the real producer of the disease. 
Considering this fact, I have always aimed to relieve the con- 
stipation by strong abdominal stimulation and suggestions to 
overcome the tendency to intestinal inaction. Then I suggest 
strongly to the patient that the circulation is to be quickened 
and amplified in the bronchial region so that the irritation 
of the tubes will be diminished. 

If temporary relief can be given in this way for a day or 
two, as it almost always can if the suggestions are properly 



76 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

given; the relief of the constipated condition then begins to 
work a real relief in the irritated membranes. Asthma neces- 
sarily takes some little time to cure, for there is a considerable 
process of elimination to be gone through with in a chronic 
case, but the most stubborn of cases can generally be cured 
in this manner. Patients should be encouraged to take out- 
door exercise and to the observance of a diet that will preclude 
the return of the constipation. 

BRONCHITIS 

is another ailment characterized by inflammation and irrita- 
tion of the bronchial region. It generally begins in an acute 
attack and becomes a chronic condition later. Its symptoms 
are akin to those of asthma, but not generally so distressing. 

Bronchitis, however, is sometimes the fore-runner of 
tuberculosis of the lungs and should not be neglected for that 
reason aside from its annoying and troublesome symptoms. 
The constipation which is generally sure to exist, in tendency 
at least, should be relieved first and then careful stimulation 
applied to the base of the brain and to the bronchial region. 
The suggestions should be toward increasing the circulation 
and the nervous energy, especially that of the sympathetic 
nervous system, as the functions of breathing and circulation 
are so nearly connected with the bronchial region. 

Out-of-door air and water drinking, and in fact all hygienic 
precautions which tend toward elimination shoiild be prescribed 
in all conditions which are marked by inflammation of the 
mucous membrane or other tissues. 

PLEURISY 

or pleuritis is characterized by sharp cutting pains in the chest 
and depressed feeling. It is often accompanied by fever, and 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING, 77 

in the acute condition is often violent and dangerous. The 
pain finally becomes chronic and recurs whenever the patient 
takes cold or is exposed to sudden changes of the weather. 

The treatment for pleurisy is the stimulation of the nerve 
centers of the chest region and general circulatory stimulation. 
The mechanical suggestion of magnetized water is often helpful 
in pleurisy. Some operators may find gentle manipulations of 
the patient's shoulders and body, which have a tendency to 
limber up the muscles in the chest region, a helpful suggestion. 
Anything which will increase the blood supply in the outer 
tissues will be likely to decrease the pain. 

DIABETES MELLITUS 

is one of the most common ailments affecting the kidneys. 
It is marked for purposes of diagnosis by the presence of sugar 
in excessive quantities in the urine and is regarded as being 
caused by an improper action of the liver which does not change 
over and prepare for assimilation the saccharine products of 
the food in the proper manner. 

A striking and gratifying thing to every student and 
practitioner of Natural Healing is the fact that it has now come 
to be recognized by some of the most prominent specialists 
in the treatment of diabetes as the best possible method of 
coping with the ailment. 

In a recent article, John Duncan Quackenbos, M.D., a 
famous physician and member of many learned societies, says, 
'^ Diabetes mellitus has been added to the list of diseases curable 
by intelligent suggestion, a number of cases having been 
successfuly treated. Diabetes implies an error in the metabolic 
activity of the liver cells, whereby the sugary elements hurry 
through that organ unchanged or are produced there in excessive 
quantity to be excreted by the kidneys instead of being retained 



78 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

in the system and converted into energy. The rationale of 
suggestion here involves assurance of psychic control over the 
manufacture and assimilation of sugar; the ordering of its 
retention in the body, and its transformation there into capacity 
for work and happiness; the destruction of the appetite for 
the carbohydrates, together with the intense thirst characteristic 
of the disease, and creation of tolerance and even desire for 
the prescribed diet; directions to insure an equable increase 
in flesh, strength and activity. Diabetic patients respond 
immediately to such an appeal; and no better illustration of 
psycho-physical control can be adduced than the disappearance 
of this functional disease in obedience to the decree of the 
trans-liminal self." 

In another portion of the same article he says: ^'The 
present attitude of reputable science toward intelligently 
administered and wisely guarded suggestion as a therapeutic 
agent is thus incontestably one of hearty approval and support. 
The world^s deepest thinkers accept its truths and construe 
its facts.'' 

Shorn of all its technical language, the description of the 
treatment of diabetes by suggestion, as given by Dr. Quackenbos, 
is exactly the course I have used and here recommend to the 
student. 

The stimulation of the liver and colon in the usual manner 
is accompanied by suggestions to promote the process of 
sugar disintegration and assimilation by the liver cells. The 
suggestions are given in the form of assurances that the liver 
€an cope with any form of diet and have no difficulty in so 
doing. There is no need to advise water drinking in this 
•case, for the almost abnormal thirst which accompanies it 
will assure the patient getting fluid enough. Suggestions are 
often valuable to assuage this thirst and give the patient relief 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 79 

from its discomforts. It is certainly gratifying to observe the 
adoption of Natural Healing methods by the leaders of the 
regular schools, whose rank and file are often found arrayed 
steadfastly against anything that is not bounded by the limits 
of a pill or a potion. 



CHAPTER V. 

Epilepsy. 

symptoms — treatment — expectant attention illustrated — 
epilepsy curable by natural healing methods — miss 

K 'S CASE. 

A NERVOUS disease commonly known as "fits" or the 
'^falling sickness." It is characterized by the strange 
contortions and foaming at the mouth with which the 
victim suffers during the paroxysms of the disease. The fits, 
are always heralded by a peculiar scream which the victim 
gives as he falls and which cannot be mistaken once having 
been heard. There is always a great rush of blood to the head; 
frothing at the mouth and unconsciousness, during which the 
body is badly distorted and the limbs twisted in uncouth 
convulsions. 

The only thing to be done in the presence of one of the 
attacks is to lay the patient in as comfortable a posture as 
possible with the head slightly raised and prevent his doing 
himself an injury. A rolled handkerchief or a stick covered 
with soft cloth may be put between the teeth to prevent biting 
the tongue. 

The treatment of epilepsy must necessarily be of general 
nature and of faithful continuance. An entire systemic 
change must be undergone before a complete cessation of the 
attacks can be looked for. Still a gratifying decrease in the 
frequency of the attacks can be looked for from the early part 
of the suggestive treatment if it is properly administered. 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 81 

The patient is prone to live in constant dread of an attack 
and very often to invite one by his expectant attention regard- 
ing it. The mind can be turned in a new channel in the early 
stages of the treatment and the courage of the victim aroused 
to combat the recurrence of the attacks so that they will really 
be decreased in frequency. One amusing illustration of this 
fact came to my knowledge in a railroad train in this state. 
The gentleman who related the circumstance was not a practi- 
tioner of any kind, but he was a man who was not easily excited 
in an emergency and was gifted with a fund of good common 
sense. He was riding about his business one day in a train 
when he observed a young man obviously ill at ease and dis- 
composed. Finally the young man accosted the gentleman in 
question with the following words, ''I am sorry to trouble 
you, but I am an epileptic and I am going to have a fit — I 
know I am! Will you take care of me? ^^ — with each word 
becoming more and more excited. '^ Certainly,'^ said the 
gentleman coolly, '^ I'll look out for you, but you're not going 
to have any fit today — in fact you couldn't have one if you 
tried. Now go ahead and have anything you want, if you 
can, I'll take care of you! " 

This attitude struck the epileptic as so ludicrous that he 
burst out laughing and in a few minutes was seated comfortably 
and talking animatedlj^ with his new-found friend. He had 
no fit and when he left the train was profuse in his thanks, 
saying he had not had so pleasant a day for a long time. In 
aU probability, the least betrayal of anxiety at the time he 
thought himseK about to be taken ill would have precipitated 
a severe attack. The phenomena of expectant attention are 
often responsible for a great many human ills. 

All the resources of the general treatment, especially 

stimulation of the brain and nerve cells, acceleration of the 

7 



82 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

circulation and careful attention to the condition of the digestive 
functions should be resorted to in the course of treatment for 
epilepsy. No medicine known will cure this disease, but 
properly applied suggestion has been known to restore many 
sufferers to health. 

One of the cases of epilepsy I have met in my practice 

was that of Miss K , who resided in a Worcester County 

town. She had been a sufferer for a number of years with 
the malady and exhibited all the symptoms, including frequent 
violent fits. She was unable to go anywhere with any peace 
of mind as she was constantly afraid of falling in one of the 
paroxysms. She took a course of treatment for several months, 
the object of which was to renovate the nervous system. One 
of the most gratifying early results of the treatment was the 
increase in confidence she experienced in going into public 
places. She was finally able to attend the theatre, chm-ch 
and other public assemblages with almost no fear, and the 
number of attacks in a given period decreased notably. The 
progress of the case was slow, but it appeared that once the 
subjective forces were set in motion, there was a constant 
tendency toward improvement and ample ground for hope 
that in the end the malady would entirely disappear. It is 
a difficult thing to persuade some patients to persist long 
enough in the treatment to seciu"e a complete cure. In all 
nervous diseases, time must be allowed for Nature to rally its 
forces and the average sufferer has not the ability to wait 
patiently for a necessary period to elapse. Where nerve tissue 
is deteriorated, nothing but the slow process of Nature's own 
ordaining, quickened by the proper Subjective stimulation 
can make good the damage, and it is rare indeed that Natural 
processes of repair are more rapid than the ravages that pro- 
duced the condition. 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Root of Many Ills. 

constipation — its causes and effects — elimination one of 
the most important functions — ill effects of cathartics 
— proper treatment by natural healing methods — 
piles or hemorrhoids. 

CONSTIPATION may be confidently pointed to as the 
primary cause of about one-haK the ills of which 
patients complain. The cause of constipation is the 
failure of the colon or larger intestine to produce the per- 
istaltic motion of the membrane which lines it in the natural 
way and at proper times. This motion is the function of 
the tiny papillae or folds in the lining of the colon and 
tends toward moving the waste matter of food through 
its natural course to the point of elimination from the body. 
The colon has also an absorbent power of great importance 
as is shown by the instances in which patients have been kept 
alive for long periods solely by food administered through 
its agency. It is plain that when the waste products of food 
are not properly eliminated by the colon, the many organic 
poisons, ptomaines, etc., with which the waste material is 
laden, are absorbed into the system and turned into the blood 
supply together with the healthful products of food, to poison 
the whole stream of life. That this is exactly what happens 
when the bowels do not perform their natural fimction at 
least once daily, cannot be doubted. Therefore, it is fair to 
say that at least fifty per cent, of the ills that are ascribed to 
impoverished condition of the blood are really the result of 
constipation. 



84 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

When the blood is poor, the nerves and muscles are not 
properly nourished and even the brain cannot get its necessary 
renovating material. Scarcely a nervous patient was ever 
found who was not troubled seriously with constipation. The 
constipation once become chronic, it and its effects become 
intro-active and the very nervous and blood deterioration it 
causes, aggravate the disordered condition of the digestive 
function. 

The act of eliminatmg the waste products of food is governed 
by the same nerve system that controls the other functions, 
and the normal desire to perform this function is automatic 
as that of breathing. It is however necessarily governed by 
the will, and when the intimation of nature that the function 
should be performed is not obeyed promptly, the peristaltic 
motion is checked and retroverted, and in a short time, it 
becomes inactive. Lack of proper exercise, preponderance of 
certain kinds of food, lack of attention to the calls of nature either 
through want of opportunity, neglect or false modesty, will 
all cause constipation, and in fact practically all people of 
sedentary life or nervous temperament are more or less its 
victims. 

The use of cathartic drugs is one of the most deplorable 
habits into which a person afflicted with constipation and its 
attendant ills can be led. Nearly all the cathartics, and even 
the aperient salts in large quantities, are poisons ; and in order 
to perform their effect, they have to be absorbed into the 
blood and carried to the membranes of the intestines, since 
their action depends upon the stimulation of the peristaltic 
motion by increasing the amount of liquid excreted by the 
surface membranes of the intestines. A portion of these drugs 
is of course not eliminated and as it soon becomes the fact 
that larger and larger doses are needed to produce their effect, 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 85 

the blood soon becomes laden with poison which is perhaps 
even worse than the natural poisons sought to be rid of. Drugs 
are a delusion and a snare in the treatment of constipation 
and if persisted in will work the worst possible harm. 

But since the function of the intestines is governed by 
the solar plexus, or ''abdominal brain/' which controls all the 
vital machinery of the body, the methods of Natural Healing 
which are directed in great measure to the co-ordination of 
the forces which actuate the nervous centers, are particularly 
efficacious in combatting the effects of impaired digestion and 
elimination. 

If, by the usual expedients of suggestion, the subjective 
forces can be directed to the stimulation of the solar plexus, 
the action of the stomach, liver and small intestine will be 
quickened, the natural secretions of the colon will be amplified 
without recourse to the cathartic poisons and the peristaltic 
motion will be resumed in the due course of time. 

Very often it has been proved in my practice that the use 
of water prepared in the manner indicated in a previous chapter 
is the best possible suggestion for the relief of a constipated 
condition. Sometimes the relief is experienced very quickly 
after the beginning of the treatment and in other cases the 
progress is more slow, but if persisted in, the most stubborn 
case will yield to suggestive influences. And when the con- 
stipation is cured, the operator will find, in a large percentage 
of his cases, that the ailments and diseases which the patient 
complained of when he first applied for treatment, have vanished 
also. 

Once having conquered the condition, of course the patient 
must so conduct himself as not to relapse by reason of the 
same neglects or indiscretions that produced it at first. Out- 
door exercise and a varied, proper diet should obviate all 
danger of recurrence. 



86 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 



PILES OR HEMORRHOIDS 

are the direct and most painful results of chronic constipation. 
They are the most common of rectal ailments and result both 
from the infection of the tissues by unexcreted poisons and 
from the unnatural distortion of the rectal muscles and tissues 
caused by straining in the effort to produce natural movements. 
They are of numerous kinds, such as blind, bleeding, protrud- 
ing, etc. Fistula is the extreme stage of the diseases in which 
the tissues are actually eaten through and others than the 
natiu-al orifice exist. In all cases, piles are curable only by 
the removal of the cause, which is constipation. The process 
of renovation may be a slow and discomforting one, but once 
having cured the cause, the diseased condition of the tissues 
will disappear in due time. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Paralysis. 

CAUSES OF "shock" — HEMIPLEGIA — PARAPLEGIA — CREEPING 
PARALYSIS — TREATMENT — CIRCULATION RENEWED — CONSTIPA- 
TION TO BE GUARDED AGAINST — IMPORTANCE OF ENCOURAGE- 
MENT TO PARALYTICS— FACIAL PARALYSIS — TWO NOTABLE 
CASES — LOSS OF VOICE — MISS D 'S REMARKABLE RESTOR- 
ATION OF SPEECH — MISS K AND MISS R . 

PARALYSIS or '^ shock " as it is commonly called, is the result 
of blood clots lodging in the brain and oppressing certain 
of the centers there so that the portions or functions of the 
body they control are rendered useless. The cause of such blood 
clots is occasionally external injury, but much more frequently 
impure blood and sluggish circulation, the result of constipation 
or other allied causes. The attacks come on suddenly and with- 
out warning and the victim is generally stricken from compara- 
tive or seemingly complete health to a most pitiable condition 
of helplessness. 

There are many kinds of paralysis, and some ''shocks'^ 
are so slight as to affect but a very smaU portion of the body, 
or any one of the senses, the power of speech, etc., while others 
render the whole body or half of it useless. 

That form of the trouble which affects one side of the 
body is called hemiphlegia, while paraphlegia is the term used 
to denote paralysis affecting the lower portion of the trunk 
and limbs. Another form is known as creeping paralysis, in 
which the initial shock, frequently a slight one, is followed 
by a slow progression of the effects, larger and larger areas 



88 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

of the body being affected gradually. Paralysis agitans is the 
'^shaking palsy'' of old time terminology. In this form the 
patient is unable to control his muscles at all and the limbs 
quiver and shake in the most distressing manner. Facial 
paralysis generally affects but one side of the countenance at 
once and is an annoying form of the trouble for it robs the 
face of expression and generally gives it a ghastly or repulsive 
expression aside from affecting the speech and frequently the 
eyesight. 

In all cases of paralysis, the stimulation of the circulation 
is the first essential. Constipation must be carefully guarded 
against and every means used to restore a normal quality of 
the blood and induce an accelerated circulation. In some 
cases the deterioration of the circulatory function has gone 
so far that nature cannot rally her forces sufficiently to over- 
come the trouble, and unaided, she practically never does so. 
Unless the methods of Natural Healing are used to set the cura- 
tive powers of the mind at work, the patient almost infallibly 
suffers subsequent attacl^ which terminate his life, though 
they may not occur for months or even years after the first. 
If taken immediately after the first shock, however, the circu- 
lation may be so improved as to absorb and remove the cause 
of the trouble and the process of repairing the damage done 
made to go on in natural course. 

The basic idea of treatment for paralysis is of course 
always to remove the source of the trouble by general treat- 
ment, but the patient generally wants immediate relief from 
his inability to use his limbs. 

Passes over the affected portions accompanied by strong 
suggestions relative to increased power of locomotion or use 
of the limbs in various ways will generally be found to give 
immediate relief. 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 89 

Nothing encourages a patient suffering with paralysis so 
much as to make him do things with his arms and legs that he 
has not been able to do, or believes he has not, since he was 
stricken. He is helped in the best sense by such encourage- 
ment because it engenders the necessary subjective confidence 
in his ultimate recovery and sets his own mind forces to work 
to help him unconsciously to himself. Too often patients 
suffermg in this manner become utterly despairing because of 
their inability to do as they had previously, and the very depres- 
sion that ensues hastens the progress of their trouble. Therefore 
the operator can conscientiously try to impress the patient 
with the benefit he is deriving from an ability to move about 
more actively, when as a matter of fact, that consideration 
is secondary to the real object of the treatment, viz., the removal 
of the cause of the condition. Anything which makes the 
patient think he is getting on well is the best influence he can 
possibly have about him. 

In the course of my practice I have had some very interest- 
ing cases of paralysis ; and those in which the ailment has been 
taken early enough in its course and the patient has been 
willing to comply faithfully with the requirements of treatment 
for a sufficient length of time, have exhibited pleasing results. 

Two cases of facial paralysis I recall were so much alike 

that they may be mentioned together. Mr. A. C , a man 

in middle life, and a mechanic by occupation, was suddenly 
stricken with a paralysis which deprived him of power over 
one whole side of his face. He was entirely without expression 
on one-half of his countenance, while the other was normal 
in appearance. 

I was called to him within a few weeks after the attack, 
and as he was a healthy man of active habits and sufficient 
vitality to warrant the belief, I concluded he would be easily 



90 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

cured. I treated him two or three times by passes made over 
his face and by strong suggestions that he could control the 
muscles in the affected part. In stimulating the brain centers^ 
the intention was of course directed to the opposite side of 
the skull from that on which the trouble was located, from 
the well-known fact that the halves of the brain govern opposite 
sides of the body. 

It took but a short time to direct the subjective forces 
toward the affected nerves and muscles in the patient's face 
and soon he could move the one side as well as the other. AU 
the effect the patient cared for was the renewing of his normal 
expression and control over his facial muscles, but the real 
object lay deeper and was attained through the favorable 
attitude the patient's view of the matter caused him to take 
toward the treatment. I have no doubt the cause was whoUy 
absorbed and eliminated by the circulation, since he has had 
no recurrence of the trouble whatever in many months. 

Mr. Frank D , a cigar-maker, was the other unfortunate 

spoken of. His trouble was of longer standing, but he was a 
younger man than the former patient. His case was a severe 
one, and not only was the side of the face set and mask-like, 
but the eye muscles were also affected so that he could open 
and shut his eyelids only by lifting and lowering them with 
thumb and forefinger. When he went to sleep at night he 
was obliged to close his eye in this manner. His condition 
was not only disfigiu*ing, but very annoying, and there were 
fears expressed that he might become much worse affected 
so as to lose possibly his sight and hearing. 

I pursued exactly the same course as in the case previously 
spoken of. I made the eye the point of attack, and when I 
had succeeded in getting the patient so he could govern its 
opening and closing in the usual way, he was overjoyed. In 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 91 

a very short time, he had no further difficulty with the eye 
and has had no noticeable effects from the trouble since the 
conclusion of the treatment. 

LOSS OF VOICE 

is said to be one of the most difficult of all physical ills to cure. 
It is generally found to result either from a paralysis of the 
throat and vocal cords or from the after effects of a severe 
cold or throat trouble of the grippe or influenza type, in which 
case it is probably a condition of systemic poison. Catarrhal 
conditions also may cause loss of voice, but this generally 
predicates a destruction of some portion of the vocal apparatus, 
and is most likely to be incurable. 

Three very notable cases of voice restoration in the course 
of my practice come to mind. They were all cases of long 
standing and seemed to have been caused by colds, or throat 
affections of that nature. All three were cases of complete 
loss of the power to utter a loud sound. The patients could 
simply form the positions of speech with the tongue and lips, 
but nothing but the faintest whisper would answer their strongest 
efforts to make themselves heard. This condition had in each 
case persisted for a number of months. 

The first of the three cases to be brought to my attention 

was that of Miss Helen D , the daughter of a well-known 

Boston business man. The loss of her power of speech followed 
after a severe attack of cold and sore throat. It was believed 
at first that she would overcome it in a short time, but as 
she did not, medical advice was sought. A number of specialists- 
treated the young lady, at considerable expense, but to no 
good. The loss of voice had persisted for nearly a year and 
a half, when the case was brought to my attention during a 
visit of the young lady to a relative in this city. 



92 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

I realized the difficulty of the case, and while I of course 
betrayed no doubt of the matter to the patient, I told her 
relatives confidentially that I felt there might not be any great 
success, owing to the possibility of destruction of some portion 
of the vocal apparatus. However, I gave the patient two 
treatments and informed her that within forty-eight hours 
after the second one, her voice would return to her. This I 
strongly suggested to her and I exercised the most determined 
intention to produce just the result I promised her. 

In short, it was a case where it was worth while to risk 
everything on a single cast. On the evening of the last day 
included within the time set, the young lady and her aunt 
attended a performance at the theater. In the midst of the 
performance, the young lady suddenly found, with a feeling 
of the utmost amazement, that she could speak aloud. She 
kept trying her voice under cover of the music and applause, 
being careful not to let her aunt know of her recovery lest 
the surprise should upset her. When she left the theater and 
returned home she greeted the other members of the family 
in her natural tones, and since that time, months ago, she 
has no difficulty. I have always considered this case as one 
of the most dramatic proofs of suggestive influence I ever 
heard of. 

The fame of this case brought me two others of similar 
nature, both young ladies, one of whom was a well-known 
public singer in Holyoke, Mass. The first of the cases, a Miss 

K , began to gain in voice strength with the first treatment. 

Her progress was constant and gradual, and she finally resumed 
full powers of speech without any sudden change in her con- 
dition. 

The second case, that of the singer. Miss R , was of 

the opposite nature. She had lost her voice, like the other 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 93 

two patients, as the result of a severe cold. She came to my 
office and took a series of treatments lasting a number of days. 
She seemed to experience but very little benefit and finally 
she left for her home. Less than a week after she arrived 
there, I received a letter from her full of the most profuse 
gratitude and stating that on the second day after her return 
from Worcester, her voice came back to her almost instantly, 
and she was then in full possession of it. In a few weeks after- 
ward she was able to resume singing and has not so far as I 
know ever experienced any further difficulty. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

After Effects of Injuries. 

when natural healing plays its part — lived with 
his neok broken — case of edwin parlin a marvel to 
medical science — fractured fourth vertebra — given 
up to die after many months in hospital — cured in 
two weeks by natural healing methods — a notable 
triumph — case of john j. burns. 

X TERY often treated in the most advantageous manner by 
\/ Natural Healing methods. Convalescence in any physical 
condition can be quickened materially by the skilful sug- 
gestionist and particularly where the convalescence depends 
upon the renovation of injured tissues by Natural means. In 
cases of burns, fractures, sprains, bruises, cuts, contusions and 
injuries of all kinds where nature ordinarily repairs the damage, 
the process can be hastened wonderfully by properly directing 
the subjective forces. Of course no renovation at all would 
ever take place if the subjective forces did not compel it, for 
what is referred to as ''Nature" in this connection is of course 
nothing but the subjective mind of man which has his physical 
well-bemg for its normal task of guardianship. Natural Healing 
is in the last analysis nothing more than the proper direction 
of the natural forces within the patient's own being, to the 
exercise of their normal duty. 

In cases of physical injury, as has been indicated heretofore, 
the aid of surgery is first to be called into play. Broken bones 
must be properly set, cuts cleansed and sewed up and wounds 
of all sorts attended to, according to the procedure appropriate 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 95 

to their kind. The subjective forces cannot unite a broken 
bone in a minute nor heal a cut instantly nor reduce a sprain 
in the twinkling of an eye. They were never intended to do 
so, and it would be supernatural if they did. But having 
used the proper mechanical means to place the injured parts 
in as near as possible their proper relation to each other, nature 
T^egins the work of repairing the damage forthwith. 

Then the stimulation of the natural impulse of renovation 
is the province of the operating suggestionist, and his work 
will do what no other branch of the healing art can do, that 
is, shorten the time usually taken to repair the damage done 
to the physical being. In cases of strains and bruises where 
there is no actual severing of tissues as in cuts and fractures, 
I know that the cures by Natural Healing methods are so much 
quicker than those by any other as to appear almost miraculous. 
And in the same manner the period of convalescence from 
other serious injuries is frequently so much shortened by a 
competent operator as to excite wonder and admiration. 

Perhaps one of the most remarkable cases in the whole 
€Ourse of my practice, at least the one which has at various 
times been given the widest publicity, was that of Mr. Edwin 
Parlin of Worcester. Mr. Parlin was a man above fifty years 
of age when he passed through one of the most peculiar adven- 
tures that ever falls to the lot of mankind. He was employed 
at the Grove Street Works of the American Steel and Wke 
Company at the time when an extraordinary accident made 
him one of the most famous patients in whom medical science 
has taken an interest in recent years. He is famed as one 
of the very few men who have fractured the vertebrae of the 
neck and survived. Probably he is the only man whose com- 
plete recovery of health and strength after a fracture of the 
cervical vertebrse has ever been recorded. 



96 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

During the evening of August 29, 1900, Mr. Parlin, who 
was in his own home, took a small hand lamp with a glass 
chinmey, and started down the cellar stairs, in the pursuit of 
some domestic employment. 

He never performed the errand upon which he started. 
His shoe caught in some manner upon the top stair and he 
fell headlong to the bottom. Strangely enough the lamp with 
its fragile chimney was not injured in the least, but when 
Mr. Parlin was picked up it was discovered that his neck was 
broken. The fourth vertebra was not merely dislocated but 
broken as well, and the fragments were pressing upon the spinal 
cord in a manner that is usually declared to be fatal without 
a possibility of recovery. 

There was much hemorrhage and altogether it was a 
case in which by all precedent the patient should not have 
survived till the physicians could reach his side. Mr. Parlin's 
head was twisted upon his neck in the ghastly manner of one 
who has died by hanging, but still a spark of life flickered in 
his breast. 

He was a man of fine physique and vitality and it w^as 
determined by the eminent surgeons who had been attracted 
by the report of so notable a case, that an operation should 
be attempted. He was etherized and the effort was made 
to set the broken vertebra. This was finally done and Mr. 
Parlin emerged from the effects of the ether to find himself 
utterly helpless below the chin. It was as though his body 
did not exist at all, for he was unable to move a single muscle 
or to realize a single sensation in any portion of his being below 
his head. 

For three weeks the patient lay in this manner, rapidly 
losing flesh and apparently merely awaiting the end of his 
sufferings. Then the attending physician tried to turn the 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 97 

sufferer slightly in bed and the neck broke again. The process 
of knitting together of the bones had not gone far enough to 
stand the strain of the movement and the result was a return 
to the condition of things immediately after the accident. 
The process of resetting was gone through again and by this 
time it was judged wise to take Mr. Parlin to the city hospital. 

The task of removal was finally accomplished^ and then 
there began a series of trials of every expedient known to 
medical science to restore him to health. All the time he 
seemed to be wasting away and soon grew to be scarcely more 
than a skeleton. There was no return of sensation or muscular 
power to his body or limbs, and it seemed impossible that he 
could long survive. Massage, electricity and every other 
expedient, mechanical and medical, that was available at the 
hospital, was tried; but after many months of apparently 
absolute stagnation in his condition, Mr. Parlin's case was given 
up and he was sent home to live or die as the case might be, 
with the ultimate fatal end of his sufferings seemingly but a 
short time removed. 

It was after the unfortunate man had been a month at 
home, gaining not a whit apparently, that I was called into 
the case. I went to see him and a more pitiable sight never 
met my eyes. There he was in bed, lifeless below the chin, 
and unable to do more than to turn upon me the most appealing, 
hopeless gaze, while the tears ran unchecked down his cheeks. 

I am frank to say that I doubted if any power on earth 
could help him. Certain as I was and am of the wonderful 
forces Nature has invested us with, I doubted if in this sad 
case they could be aroused soon enough to save the sufferer. 
But I pitied him so I determined that if will of mine could 
save him, he was to be saved. I threw every bit of will-power 

and intention I could muster into the effort to set his subjective 

8 



98 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

forces in motion. I told him in the strongest terms that I 
would help him, and I passed my hand two or three times 
from his shoulder to his wrist along the arm next me as he 
lay m bed. 

I was with him but five minutes at the outside, but for 
four or five hours following my visit, he felt the first sensation 
in his arm that he had experienced since his accident. His 
arm tingled and throbbed and it seemed as though the circu- 
lation and nervous energy were coming again to the member. 

The following day, at about the hour of my visit on the 
previous one, Mr. Parlui suddenly called out to his wife in 
great excitement. She was alarmed and came hastily to him. 
He begged her to remove the bandages with which his arm 
was swathed and when this had been done, to their great 
wonder and joy, the shrunken and claw-like appearance had 
left his hand in a great measure, and he was able to flex the 
fingers almost as well as ever, this being the first time he had 
done so since the fall down the stairs. 

From that time on, there was a steady improvement. 
I came to Mr. Parlin again in a week and had him sitting up 
and moving both arms. Soon after, he was walking about 
the room, and the fourth treatment I gave him was at the 
Worcester Post-Office Building, where I was then located. He 
had walked unaided from his home on Lancaster street, a 
distance of not less than three-quarters of a mile ! He constantly 
improved in health, and at the time of this writing he has been 
at work nearly four years, as well and rugged a man as walks 
the streets. He weighs one hundred and seventy pounds and 
his rugged healthy appearance might well be envied by men 
of thirty years. His work consists of driving a big two-horse 
truck, and is strenuous enough to satisfy almost any men 
younger by many years. 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 99 

Another rather singular case in the treatment of after 
effects of injuries was that of John J. Biu-ns, a freight conductor, 
employed by the Boston & Maine Railroad. Mr. Burns had 
his foot caught in the frog of a switch and badly crushed by 
a number of cars passing over it. The foot was badly mis- 
shapen after the wounds healed and the leg was also strained 
and distorted. This was a number of years previous to my 
knowing of him, but he suffered constantly from the effects 
of the accident. There was much pain in the limb at all times 
and it became of serious nature everytime he took cold or any 
unusual strain or exertion occiu-red. This condition had 
persisted for fifteen years before I treated him. I considered 
the pain to be caused by restricted circulation in the muscles 
and the pressure which existed upon the nerves of the foot 
and leg. I treated the patient upon that supposition and 
immediately succeeded in increasing the flow of blood to the 
affected parts by the usual passes and suggestions. Since 
that time he has had no pain in the limb and its general con- 
dition has grown visibly better. It has been more than three 
years since I treated him and there has been no recurrence of 
the pain even under unfavorable circumstances. 



,ofC. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Heart Irregularities. 

functional and valvular troubles — functional diffi- 
culties easily relieved — treatment — raised as from 

the dead — mrs. c 's strange recovery — the strange 

case of thomas j. hackett — rescued from trance-like 
condition and senses restored — how incurable cases 

may be relieved and life prolonged — how miss h 

lived four years after her death was decreed. 

THE heart is fortunately the most durable as well as the 
most vital organ of the body. There is no other organ 
that will perform its functions under such unfavorable 
circumstances as will the cardiac muscle. The diseases of the 
heart are generally spoken of in two classes, functional disturb- 
ances and valvular or organic diseases. A functional disturbance 
of the heart has some exterior source like acute indigestion or 
nervous depression. A valvular disease means the destruction 
or deterioration of some portion of the muscular tissue. It 
is probable that destroyed tissue in the heart muscle cannot 
be restored by any means any more than a new limb can grow 
to replace an amputated one; but even in the severest cases 
of valvular trouble, life and health can be prolonged by Natural 
Healing methods when no other curative agency can be of any 
avail whatever. 

Functional heart troubles can be relieved by the skilful 
suggestionist quicker than by any other practitioner, since the 
causes of an irregular heart function can be reached successfully 
only through the subjective forces of life. Natural Healing 
removes the cause of functional heart trouble by stimulating 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 101 

the forces resident in the solar plexus and the inner nervous 
centers, and this is something that drug medication cannot 
hope to do. 

The treatment for heart difficulties must consist necessarily 
in the general stimulation of the subjective forces with the 
object of improving the general health and vitality. The 
general diagnosis of heart troubles is not usually difficult, as 
the symptoms of shortness of breath, especially after exertion, 
color of the lips, clutching or stabbing nature of pains in the 
left side, and, in severe cases, tendency to fainting, are ordinarily 
easily read signs. Many people, however, indeed it might be 
said the majority of people, have some form of heart irregularity 
and are never conscious of it diu-ing their entire lives because 
the organ has the remarkable power of ''compensating," as it 
is called, for weakness in one part by enlarging the capacity 
of another to do more than its natural share of work. Generally 
the heart gives warning by easily recognized symptoms when 
it is being driven beyond its ability to respond. 

One of the most remarkable cases I ever attended was 
one of severe functional heart trouble which threatened the 
patient's death. The case was notable, from my viewpoint, 
for two reasons : first, that I cured the patient when her death 
within the day was predicted by all attending her, save myself; 
and second, that she was entirely unconscious when I reached 
her bedside and objective suggestions could not reach her. 

I have explained my belief in the communication between 
subjective minds without objective intervention, and in this 
case which I am about to outline, it unquestionably took place, 
in my opinion. 

The patient was Mrs. C , the wife of a prominent 

manufacturer. She had suffered for a long time from a severe 
case of nervous exhaustion and her vitality seemed to be almost 



102 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

wholly exhausted. Her heart was affected and she finally 
became subject to periods of unconsciousness which were of 
very alarming nature. She suffered great pain and oppression 
in the base of the brain and spinal cord, and there were typical 
heart pains in the cardiac region. She of course had the best 
medical attendance, but she steadily grew worse until it finally 
became apparent that she could not survive many more 
attacks. 

At length she was taken with an alarming condition in 
the course of which she repeatedly relapsed into unconscious- 
ness. In the intervals of semi-consciousness, she repeatedly 
requested those about her to ^'Send for him." They could 
not at first make out who was intended, but finally some one 
asked if it was Mr. Gilson whom she meant, and before relapsing 
into unconsciousness she indicated that it was. 

It was the belief of those taking care of the patient that 
she could not live the day out, and immediately her husband 
decided to call me as a last resort. He did so, and when I 

arrived, Mrs. C was entirely unconscious and seemed to 

be breathing her last. I took her by the hand and strongly 
willed her to return to consciousness. I placed my right 
hand on the base of her brain and stimulated the centers vigor- 
ously. I exercised all the intention possible to make her 
rouse up and to relieve the overtaxed heart. 

In a few minutes I had the satisfaction of seeing her respond 
to the strong suggestions I was giving her mentally and she 
began to regain consciousness. In a little while she was fully 
conscious, and the manner in which she began to return to normal 
conditions was simply marvellous to those watching in the 
room. I gave her the strongest possible stimulation and 
suggestions to overcome the pain about the heart and the 
nervous depression. 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 103 

In the course of a very few minutes she sat up in bed 
and wished to get up, but acting on my advice she did not 
do so for several hours. She then had a light lunch and from 
that time on began to gain rapidly. In less than forty-eight 
hours from my arrival at the house, the patient was out riding 
with her husband in their automobile. She continuously 
improved and has been in active health ever since. I have 
in my possession a very grateful letter from the lady's husband 
substantiating this account of this remarkable case in all essen- 
tials. It was of course a case of more or less spectacular nature, 
but to me it was of special interest because of the evidence 
it furnished to show that suggestions can be received subjectively 
or at least when the patient's objective consciousness is non- 
existent. 

An extremely strange case which illustrated the power 
of the mind to act subjectively, both in the giving and the 
receipt of suggestions, was that of Thomas J. Hackett, a 
young man about twenty years of age. Mr. Hackett was an 
armorer by trade and was employed in a well-known local 
factory. He had suffered for some time with ulcerated ears, 
and had been treated by specialists, but the trouble continued. 
Finally the pain became extremely severe, and lack of sleep, 
nervous strain and possibly some effect which the trouble 
may have had directly upon the brain, caused him to sink into 
a state resembling trance or partial catalepsy. He lost the 
senses of sight, hearing and taste, as well as the power of speech. 
He was able to walk about and says he was conscious of what 
he was doing all the time, but he could not utter a word, hear 
a sound nor see anything except through a sort of dim haze. 

He remained in this extraordinary condition for a number 
of days. • During that time he ate almost nothing. Finally 
he came to my office one morning, and a stranger looking indi- 



104 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

vidual I never saw. His face was set and mask-like, colorless 
and seemingly entirely without a spark of human intelligence or 
expression. He was led in and sat for some time in my waiting- 
room without a movement that indicated his appreciation of 
anything outside himself. He seemed absolutely unconscious 
and heeded spoken words as little as would a granite block. 
When taken by the hand and guided, he would walk, sit down 
or stand up as he was directed to do, but otherwise he was 
not a sentient being as far as could be seen. A loud shout 
uttered suddenly behind him never caused him to wink an 
eyelash. 

I believed on examining the patient that he was suffering 
from the effects of either great nervous shock or hypnosis, 
whether self-induced or not I could not tell. I saw he must 
be aroused from that state and I began work upon him. His 
ears were stopped up with cotton and his head wound with 
dressings, and these I removed at once. Then I began to 
stimulate his brain centers and exercise the most powerful 
possible intention to arouse him. I exercised forces calculated 
to counteract any hypnotic suggestions that might have been 
impressed upon him. I vibrated the ears strongly by placing 
my fingers in the orifices, and in short I tried all the expedients 
I was master of. 

For some time he did not respond, but at last a faint 
flush began to come into his face and consciousness seemed 
to return or rather to manifest itself. Finally he began to 
make peculiar noises in his throat, and after more than half 
an hour of strenuous effort, he recovered his power of speech. 
In a little while longer I restored his hearing and finally his 
sight. 

He went home and ate voraciously and then went to 
sleep. On the following day he awoke in normal health, and 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 105 

soon returned to his work. All told, it was one of the most 
remarkable cases I ever met, for the young man stated to me 
afterward that he was conscious of his surroimdings all the 
time, but unable to make any sound or to hear or see, except 
very dimly. He said it seemed like waking from a very hideous 
dream when I finally had succeeded in restoring him. Evidently 
his objective mind was not capable of receiving impressions 
through the senses, and the work was done by reaching him 
subjectively. 

Another case which excited a considerable amount of 

attention at the time was that of Miss H , who was the 

T'ictim of an organic heart trouble which it was evident to all 
must eventually terminate her life. She had been confined 
to her bed for weeks, and the opinion was given that it would 
be fatal for her even to stand upon her feet. Her trouble 
was a variety of heart lesion which very often produces sudden 
death, and it was the belief of her physicians that even slight 
physical exercise would result fatally. 

I was called into the case, and while I recognized that 
it was one in which life would be very brief comparatively, 
still I did not think the patient's time to die had arrived. I 
set myself to strengthen the heart action by the strongest 
suggestions I could bring to bear, and succeeded in gaining 
the patient's confidence in a gratifyingly short time. 

I then determined to attempt a radical experiment and 
I informed the young lady that she not only was not near 
her end, but was able to come out driving with me. She 
said she would do anything I thought wise, and I ordered her 
clothes brought, but owing to her long sickness she had no 
out-of-door clothing in readiness so I had her wrapped in the 
bedclothing and at my command she walked out to my carriage. 
I kept her out in the air four hours that day and the next 
day she was up and walking about the house. 



106 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

I kept up the treatment steadfastly and the result was 
that the patient, whose death had been decreed as a matter 
of imminent certainty, lived four years longer, her life one 
of moderately active usefulness to her family and friends. 
In the end she passed away quietly during my absence from 
the city, but the extension of her life for even four years was 
a thing of very gratifying nature both to her people and to 
me. It simply goes to show that the human mind when properly 
directed can preserve the body against the rapid progress of 
deterioration even when the process is too far advanced to 
hope for a permanent cure. 

In still another case I co-operated with a well-known 
physician of this city in the treatment of a case of internal 
cancer that was manifestly hopeless. I succeeded in prolong- 
ing the patient's life painlessly for more than two months 
longer than any medical prognosis could possibly hold out 
hopes of; and instead of dying in the agony such patients 
usually experience, this one passed away peacefully and seem- 
ingly with almost no suffering. I believe that such cases as 
these are as great triumphs in the art of relieving sufferings 
humanity as are the cases in which the disease is curable and 
the patient is restored to health. Every reader and student 
of this book who will devote himself to the earnest study and 
self -discipline that is necessary to develop his own subjective 
self can have the satisfaction and the pleasure of doing just 
these things and of relieving human pain and suffering wherever 
it is found. 



CHAPTER X. 
Gastritis. 

OF 

THERAPEUTIC VALUE — VALUE OF SUGGESTIONS NOT DEPEN- 
DENT UPON THEIR NATURE — DROPSY — SYMPTOMS AND TREAT- 
MENT 
CASE. 



MENT — DANGERS OF SALINE CATHARTICS — INSPECTOR L 'S- 



GASTRITIS is an ailment which has many apparent forms 
and is closely allied to dyspepsia and nervous derange- 
ments of the stomach function. The symptoms of 
dyspepsia and gastritis are much alike in many respects; the 
same distress after eating and the same formation of unpleasant 
gas in the stomach, the eructation of food, etc., being noticeable. 
Nausea and hiccoughing are generally marks of ailments of 
this nature, and for the purposes of the operator, all forms of 
stomach disorder of this sort may be grouped together and 
treated in similar manner. 

The treatment by Natural Healing methods depends upon 
suggestions, both mechanical and verbal, to overcome the 
improper working of the stomach function. The flow of gastric 
fluids is to be regulated by the stimulation of the abdominal 
brain and the general stimulation of the brain and nerve centers ^ 
to be used in connection with strong suggestions against the 
recurrence of the unpleasant symptoms after eating. Cases of 
this nature yield more readily to suggestive methods than to 
almost any other form of treatment; and when these methods 
are used in conjunction with a proper regulation of the habits 
of eating, sleep and exercise, cures are obtained in far the 
largest percentage of the cases. 



108 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

A general health regimen that I have found useful in 
many cases where the conditions were right for its employment, 
is nothing more nor less than the much abused and misunder- 
stood ''Kneip Cure," as it was called some years ago. 

Like every other special form of mechanical suggestion, 
it has to be applied with judgment and under proper conditions. 
I have personally practised it years before it ever became known 
publicly under the name of the German theorist, and I found 
it very beneficial. It consists in nothing more than walking 
bare-footed for twenty minutes or haK an hour in the grass 
wet with the early morning dew. I have seen some really 
remarkable results obtained from this method. Naturally it 
cannot be undertaken by very weak people or those to whom 
a chill would be harmful, but a person of ordinary vitality 
can begin it in the late spring of the New England climate 
and persist in it daily till late in the fall with great benefit. 
It certainly requires no expensive apparatus and cannot do 
the least harm if begun under proper conditions. 

The patient simply rises early some fine late spring morn- 
ing when the grass is wet with dew and walks about, minus 
his shoes and stockings, over some convenient lawn. Then 
on returning to the house, the feet should be bathed in warm 
water and dried carefully. This treatment can be carried out 
without danger into the late fall and I have knoTvn some robust 
persons who took so much pleasure in the treatment that they 
persisted in it long after the first light snow had fallen. 

Contact with the earth in this manner certainly has a 
decided curative effect. With some patients the theory of the 
magnetists with reference to the cure will prove a beneficial 
suggestion. The exponents of magnetic theories claim that 
the negative or '' back magnetism'' with which the body becomes 
charged is taken out by contact of the bare feet with the earth, 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 109 

and the positive, or new and life-giving magnetism, is received 
from the atmosphere through the eyes at the same time. 

If such a belief or explanation will aid a patient in getting 
the best results, the thought can certainly do him no harm 
and may prove a very helpful suggestion. While no conscien- 
tious operator can of course countenance any wrongful falsehood 
or deceit that might lead to evil consequences, it is not always 
the best policy to combat strong beliefs of patients if they 
have a tendency to help their mental condition. An erroneous 
belief that helps a patient to exercise the curative forces within 
himself is siu-ely better than no belief at all, or one that depresses 
and discourages him. 

A suggestion is valuable not for what it is, but for what 
it does for the patient. All doing rests on faith in something 
and the object of the faith is unmaterial, it is the existence 
of the faith that counts. So if a patient thinks he can be 
cm-ed of rheumatism by a horse-chestnut carried in the pocket, 
I for one, would be glad to hunt up the horse-chestnut for 
him. It isn't the means but the end that makes a physician 
or a healer successful. To get the mind working in the right 
direction and to set free the might}^ forces that exist within 
every human breast is the object of the Natural Healing 
practitioner, and the means, if within the boundaries of common 
right and probity, as indeed they must be, are not to be too 
critically analyzed. The physician knows that his bread-pill 
or his placebo would not be very efficacious if accompanied 
by a statement of its composition. 

DROPSY 

is a disease condition marked by the accumulation of water 
in various tissues or in all the tissues of large areas of the body. 



110 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

The general form of dropsy shows the principal accumulation 
of water in the cellular tissue under the skin. Dropsy in which 
the water accumulates in the abdominal cavity is called ascites. 
Dropsy of the chest and of the brain are also common forms. 

The general treatment by ,the old school physicians has 
been to tap the patient and draw off the water in this manner. 
This can be done of course only when the location of the accu- 
mulation is such that no vital tissue will be pierced by the 
operation. Dropsy in the chest very frequently affects the 
heart action and finally kills the patient in that manner. 
Dropsy in the abdomen is marked by very great sense of pressure 
and swelling. The disease often makes its first appearance in 
swellings of the ankles. The patient is always pale and greatly 
Tun down in health and all the general functions are badly 
affected. 

The general treatment by Natural Healing methods is to 
stimulate the action of the kidneys as much as possible. The 
functions of elimination becoming deranged are the primary 
cause of dropsy, and the accumulations of water can only be 
safely removed by helping the kidneys to do more than a normal 
amount of work until the diseased condition is removed and 
the general health toned up to a point where the abnormal 
amounts of fluid will not be secreted in the tissues and cavities 
of the body. 

It has been found that use of saline cathartics in dropsy 
removes accumillations of water from the abdominal cavity, 
but that following their extended use, the amount of water 
is increased to a marked degree so that the net result of such 
treatment is a detriment to the patient. On the other hand 
the stimulation of the intestinal functions by Natural Healing 
methods shows no such reaction, and the kidneys and bowels 
can be made to work together to eliminate the abnormal fluid. 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. Ill 

I had one notable case of dropsy some years ago. In- 
spector L , of the Boston Police Department, came to me 

suffermg with a bad complication of asthma and dropsy. He 
liad been tapped again and again, he told me, to relieve him 
of the great quantities of water which accumulated in the 
abdomen, accompanied with inflammation of the peritoneum. 
At the time he first came to me, he was suffering greatly from 
asthma, but it was a period of comparative ease with him 
in respect to the dropsical trouble. I treated him according 
to the directions given heretofore for the cure of asthma. In 
two or three treatments he began to show a marked improve- 
ment. The process of elimination in the natural manner was 
set up and the asthma was very quickly conquered. The 
dropsy also began to abate very markedly and soon that also 
was gone. In a letter received from him more than a year 
after the course of treatment, he said that both troubles had 
disappeared entirely and he had not had any difficulty with 
either. His breathing was entirely easy and normal and he 
found no difficulty in walking or exercising to any normal 
extent. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Some Notable Cases. 

diseases of the throat — how mrs. d. d. p was cured 

saved from starvation — how andrew j. m 's life 

was saved by natural healing — st. vitus's dance — 

general treatment — miss alice s rescued from 

critical condition — mr. a 's son another case. 

T TERY many in number and are of great variety, so much. 
^/ so that the limits of a volume like this will not permit 
any extended discussion of them. Such as are not of 
acute nature, like tonsilitis in its acute form, laryngitis, diphthe- 
ria, etc., are to be treated in the general manner with the purpose 
of allaying whatever inflammation there may be, and stimulating 
the general functions to remove the cause of the condition,, 
which will in a very great many instances be found to exist 
in improper nutrition and elimination. 

Some special cases of peculiar throat troubles I have 
treated with success may be given as interesting illustrations 
of the great variety of ailments the Natiu-al Healing operator 
is likely to meet with in the course of a few years' practice. 

Mrs. D. D. P , the wife of a former well-known Worcester 

citizen, had suffered for three years with a muscular or nervous 
affection of the throat which prevented her taking any food 
except in a liquid form. The throat had a constant tendency 
to close up the passage to the stomach, and mechanical means 
had to be resorted to in order to allow the passage of food 
at all. Once a week the attending physician was in the habit 
of stretching the throat with instruments in order to keep 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 113 

the passage to the oesophagus open sufficiently to allow even 
liquid food to enter the stomach. She was unable to sleep 
and she got hardly enough nutrition to keep her alive. 

I treated her in the general manner and made the usual 
passes over the throat, giving strong suggestions to relax 
the throat and allow the muscles to resume their natural posi- 
tion. Improvement was noted after the very first treatment. 
I attended her several times and within a few days after my 
first visit she was able to eat solid food. She gained twenty- 
two pounds inside of six months from the beginning of my 
treatment, although when I commenced on her case, it was 
not thought she could ever rally her strength, she was emaciated 
to such an extent. This was a number of years ago and the 
patient is now as well as ever and has had no trouble whatever 
with either throat or general health since that time. 

Andrew J. M , of Worcester, was a man in advanced 

middle age who had worked all his life at the occupation of 
a painter. He had inhaled so much of the poison from the 
materials he worked with that he finally broke down completely 
and showed all the symptoms of paralysis. He was seemingly 
at death's door when I was called to see him. His whole 
side was useless and his throat was in such condition that he 
could not speak aloud, and only with the greatest difficulty 
could he take even small quantities of food. He had tried 
all the resources of ordinary medicine but made no material 
gain. His inability to eat was resulting in a process of slow 
starvation. He was not only terribly run down in bodily 
health, but his mind was so much depressed that it was pitiful 
to see him. 

I went to see Mr. M and in a single treatment had 

him so he could speak and swallow. The treatment consisted 

solely of the usual methods of passes over the throat and affected 
9 



114 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

limbs, strong intention on my part and firm suggestions which 
immediately took effect. The day following my visit, the 
patient was able to go to a neighboring town on a fishing trip. 
He steadily improved and his health was excellent, barring 
an organic heart trouble with which he had been a sufferer 
for years. This finally ended his life at the age of about sixty 
years, but he had no more difficulty, during the years between 
my treatment and his demise, from the trouble which it was 
declared would end his life immediately. 

ST. VITUS' DANCE 

is one of the most distressing nervous ailments known. It 
is commonest in children, but occasionally settles into a chronic 
condition which lasts a lifetime. It is marked by involuntary 
and spasmodic movements of the muscles, twitching and 
jerking motions of the head, face, limbs and hands. The 
patient often finds difl&culty in controlling the organs of speech, 
and inability to speak without stanmiering or stuttering when 
excited or siu-prised often occurs. 

In some cases the body of the patient is almost never 
still, the contortions and spasmodic movements being very 
painful to watch. It is believed to be entirely a nervous trouble, 
with its cause lying in obscure sources of malnutrition or other 
reasons for improper nervous action. 

Its general treatment must necessarily be like that of 
other nervous troubles, special attention being paid to digestion, 
assimilation and elimination. The nerves need to be built 
up by a general systemic improvement, but the distressing 
symptoms can be cured in very short order by the proper 
use of Natural Healing methods. The patient and his friends 
will naturally look for relief from the outward symptoms 
which make the patient's life so miserable as the thing most 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 115 

to be desired, though really the treatment must go much deeper 
than that. The cases I have met with in the course of my 
practice have included some very severe ones, and I have found 
no difficulty in quelling the annoying nervous contortions 
almost at once, after which the process of renovation went 
on in its natural course without the knowledge of the patient. 

One of the most remarkable cases I have had in this con- 
nection was that of Miss Alice S , a young lady whose 

mother was a well-known professional nurse in Worcester. 
She had been sick with St. Vitus' dance for a long time and 
her case was complicated with other nervous disorders to such 
an extent that she was practically helpless. Her whole left 
side was useless and her tongue swelled to twice its normal 
size so that she could not utter a word in anything like a normal 
tone. 

The best physicians in the city treated her, but they were 
unable to do her any good, and her mother was in despair about 
the child when she enlisted my aid in the case. I found the 
patient lying helpless in an invalid chair. I decided, on exami- 
nation, that she would be easily amenable to suggestions. 

I gazed fixedly at her for a time and then ordered her 
to rise and walk, telling her in the most positive tone that 
she could do so. At first she demurred, but at a second com- 
mand she rose and walked about the room. She had not 
been able for more than two months to raise her hand higher 
than her shoulder, and at my conmiand she picked up a chair 
and lifted it above her head. 

The spasmodic movements of her muscles began to dis- 
appear almost at once and in a very few treatments she was 
in practically a normal condition. Her im'provement continued 
steadily and she has had no recurrence of it in four years' 
time. Although her sickness occurred at a critical period in 



116 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

a child^s age, she has developed mentally and physically in 
the most gratifying manner, showing no ill effects whatever 
in after years. 

Another case of St. Vitus^ dance was exhibited by a young 

son of Mr. A , a prominent business man. He was learning 

the piano and it was thought that too close application to 
study produced the nodding and swaying motions of the head 
which made the poor child's life unhapipy. In his case, I 
stimulated the various nerve centers and placing my hands 
on the back of the boy'^ neck, firmly suggested that he would 
have no more of the trouble. The difficulty grew less marked 
from that time, in the course of a very few treatments it had 
disappeared altogether and he was able to resume his musical 
studies almost at once. 



CHAPTER XII. 
Bright' s Disease. 

MAY BE CURED IN EARLY STAGES — RELIEF POSSIBLE AT ALL 
TIMES — MARSHAL MARTEL'S REMARKABLE CURE — OTHER CASES 
— DROP WRIST — LEAD POISONING THE COMMON CAUSE — MR. 

A. H. A CURED BY A SINGLE TREATMENT — OTHER EXAMPLES 

— GOITRE — SOURCE OF INFECTION IN DIGESTIONAL FUNCTION — 

MRS. JENNIE S CURED OF SEVERE CASE OF GOITRE — 

JAUNDICE — TREATMENT. 

BRIGHT 'S disease of the kidneys is supposed to be entirely 
incurable unless taken in the very earliest stages, and 
even then the medical authorities disagree upon the 
possibility of cure. It is characterized by the presence of 
albumen In the urine instead of sugar as in diabetes, but the 
products thus present are the result of actual destruction of the 
tissues themselves rather than a mere failure to perform their 
functions. 

In all probability the disease can be arrested in its early 
stages by Natural Healing methods in the majority of cases, 
but after a great deal of tissue is destroyed, it is not probable 
that Nature makes any provision for restoring it. I have no 
doubt, however, that the progress of the disease can be retarded 
in almost every case by means of suggestions, even if a cure 
cannot always be accomplished. One case that I have had 
seemed to indicate that the subjective forces can be aroused 
sufficiently to combat the disease even when it has progressed 
to some length. 

Mr. Marshal Martel, a resident of Ayer, Mass., was the 
sufferer. He stated when I first saw him that he had been 



118 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

suffering with the disease for a long time. The amount of 
albumen present was very large and the treatment he had 
undergone had proved useless. Specialists he had consulted 
considered his case incurable. He was scarcely able to move 
about when I first treated him and was greatly wasted away. 

The symptoms of puffiness under the eyes, heart irregula- 
rity and emaciation of the body with dropsical tendency in 
the limbs were all to be observed. 

I treated him for general systemic conditions together 
with local treatment over the kidneys and suggestions which 
would tend to increasing the general activity of the kidneys 
and bowels. The success of the treatment was marked. He 
began to improve almost at once and gained strength and 
weight in a notable degree. The general symptoms of the 
trouble disappeared in the course of a few weeks and the result 
of my haK dozen or more treatments was a complete cure. 
He is apparently in normal health at this time. 

Mr. C. E. S , of Nashua, N. H., was also a sufferer 

from inflammation of the kidneys. His urine displayed a 
great many foreign products and he often passed large quantities 
of blood with it. His strength was badly sapped by this con- 
dition and when I first treated him he was barely able to lean 
up against the wall as I did so. In a very short time the 
passing of blood ceased and the deposits in the water vanished, 
leaving it clear and normal. He gained strength rapidly and 
had no further disagreeable experience from the ailment, 
which was, in my opinion, a chronic inflammation of the entire 
urinary tract. 

DROP WRIST, 

dropped instep, flat foot and a number of other kindred com- 
plaints are affections of the joints which are caused by the 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 119 

relaxation of the muscles and tendons through some cause 
which probably primarily works on the nerves. 

Drop wrist is a trouble very often experienced by painters, 
who absorb a great deal of lead into their systems. Flat-foot 
or dropped instep is often suffered by nurses and others who 
spend a great deal of time upon their feet, especially when 
wearing light foot-wear or slippers. 

A number of these cases have come to my attention and 
they have all yielded readily to suggestive methods. The 
nervous centers have to be stimulated and the subjective 
forces set to work, for there are no known medical expedients 
which will reach such cases, and mechanical supports in the 
cases affecting the feet are but a temporary relief. Braces 
and supports like plates in the shoes are frequently used in 
cases where the instep or ankles are affected. 

Drop wrist or ^'painters' disease," is a serious one because 
it wholly incapacitates the victim for his work. The hands 
hang useless from the wrists and flap about as though the 
joints were broken. No medicine that is known will relieve 
the trouble and the patient generally has to abandon his voca- 
tion completely. One or two cases of this kind have been 
included in my practice and have been cm*ed with gratifying 
ease. 

Mr. A. H. A was a house painter who suffered a severe 

attack of drop-wrist after having worked years at his business 
and having gotten his system saturated with the lead poison. 
He could secure no relief and when he came to me his hand 
was entirely useless to him. I treated him but once and he 
immediately began to feel renewed strength in his wrists. 
The circulation was greatly improved and the blood was re- 
lieved of the poisonous matter by the natural process of elimina- 
tion. The improvement was steady and the strength returned 



120 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

to the affected parts so quickly that the patient was able to 
resume work in a short time. 

Another young man, a Mr. S , suffered from drop- 
wrist as the result of his work as a lead-burner or worker in 
that metal. He pursued a long course of drug medication 
before coming to me, but no strength returned to his hand. 
After a single treatment at my office he was able to use his 
hand with considerable freedom and secured a place where 
the work required was light. In a short time his wrist became 
strong and he experienced little if any difficulty with it there- 
after. 

Another case in which the ankle joint was attacked was 

that of Mr. J. H, C , of Nashua, a clerk whose work required 

him to be on his feet a number of hours daily. For two years 
he suffered more or less pain and weakness in the ankle and 
finally he was about to submit to a surgical operation in the 
hope of a cure. He had worn a metal plate in his shoe for 
a long time to prevent the instep from falling flat with the 
rest of the foot. I treated him by vibrating the affected foot 
between my hands and immediately he could feel the circulation 
start and the foot tingled as though an electric current were 
passing through it. The pain subsided and within a very 
short time the strength had so far returned that he discarded 
the plate and has not since been troubled in the least. 

GOITRE 

is a very common complaint in some localities, especially in 
damp regions. It is a swelling of the thyroid gland situated 
in the front of the neck. The name of the disease is derived 
from the symptom of protruding eyeballs which is commonly 
one of the first indications of the disease noticed. The gland 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 121 

swells to abnormal size and frequently presses upon the arteries 
and air passages so that feelings of suffocation are experienced. 
The disease is one of the digestional functions primarily and 
results from the filtration of the serous portion of the blood 
into the gland, which then becomes hypertrophied and often 
attains enormous size. 

Since it is a disease due to deranged digestional function, 
the general treatment should be vigorously resorted to. It 
should be recognized that the cure will require time, as the 
systemic change needed must be a gradual one. Local treat- 
ment and suggestions can be directed toward reducing the 
size of the swelling and obviating the unpleasant symptoms of 
pain and suffocation. 

Mrs. Jennie S , of Fitchburg, Mass., had suffered two 

years with a goitre which finally assumed large proportions. 
It greatly weakened her by reason of the digestional disturb- 
ances which accompanied it, and she became greatly run 
down nervously as well as in flesh and strength. The case 
was pronounced to be one of incurable goitre. The swelling 
became so large that when she lay down she would have to 
raise her head with her hands in order to get up again. 

I was called into the case and found that it would be a 
long fight, but the patient was willing to follow directions 
faithfully. I commenced by treating the seat of the whole 
trouble, which I believed to be the intestinal tract. Local 
treatments dispelled the pain, but the general treatment was 
directed wholly toward securing the necessary systemic change. 
In the course of three months the patient was completely 
cured. The swelling had disappeared entu-ely and the general 
physical condition was better than it had been for years. Diges- 
tion and nervous energy were alike completely renovated. 



122 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 



JAUNDICE 

is a condition accompanying almost all liver complaints and is. 
recognized from the yellow tinge imparted to the skin by 
the bile, which gets into the blood instead of being passed into 
the gall as it should be. All liver complaints can be treated 
after the general system, as outlined in the treatment of diabetes, 
except that the suggestions should be made to comport with 
the condition of the liver. In bilious troubles the suggestions 
are of course to prevent the passage of the bile into the blood 
and to regulate the general functions of the organ. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

A Variety of Ills. 

FEVERS — HOW NATURAL HEALING CAN COPE WITH THEM — 
DISEASES OF THE EYE — DEAFNESS — DISEASES OF THE SKIN — 
MR. GETCHELL CURED OF ACNE WITHOUT THE USE OF DRUGS — 
HAY FEVER — CATARRH — TO BE COMBATTED BY SYSTEMIC 
TREATMENT — ANEMIA — ALCOHOLISM AND DRUG HABITS — 
CURED BY FRIGHT — LOCOMOTOR ATAXIA — A CASE WHERE 
NATURAL HEALING BIDS FAIR TO CURE THE INCURABLE — 
CANCERS — ONLY RELIEF LIES IN NATURAL HEALING — IN- 
SANITY — MISTAKES IN TREATMENT — A SAD CASE — TUBERCU- 
LOSIS CURED — MISS O FINDS NATURAL HEALING BETTER 

THAN SANITARIUM — INSOMNIA — ITS CAUSES AND TREATMENT — 
DANGER OF OPIATES. 

FVERS are conditions of the body recognized by increased 
heat as shown by the thermometer, quickened circulation^ 
changes in some of the tissues and disordered secretions. 
Fevers are of many sorts and are acute conditions where it is 
always necessary, in order to be on the safe side, to employ drug 
medication. 

It has been explained why this is so. Nature cannot 
rally the subjective forces quickly enough to combat such 
crises without the help of internal medication. If the subjective 
forces had been trained from infancy it is probable that such 
a crisis as a fever would not occur, since the infection would 
not be able to find a lodgment in a body so protected since 
early childhood. Or if it did in an exceptional case secure 
lodgment, the subjective forces could combat it easily. But 
where the forces have been neglected all the lifetime, it is not 



124 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

reasonable to expect they can be summoned in an hour to do 
the wQfk of years. 

The Natural Healing operator, however, can be of the 
greatest help in such crises even during the acute state and 
it is well known that very often a feverish temperature can be 
lowered by properly administered suggestion as easily as by 
a dose of some febrifuge. The Natural Healer and the physician 
can work together in such cases with great benefit, if they will, 
and directly the acute condition has passed, the operator can 
hasten convalescence in a marked degree. Suggestions can 
always be found useful in all circumstances if they are skil- 
fully applied. 

DISEASES OF THE EYE 

are very numerous and often are best treated by the oculist, 
especially where they are of such nature as can be reached 
by the use of glasses. Where they are of nervous origin, affect- 
ing the optic nerve and the visual centers, general systemic 
treatment together with local stimulation is the ordinary course 
of treatment. Water prepared as directed in a previous chapter 
by vibrating between the hands often offers a good means 
of suggestion. It can frequently be used as a wash with good 
effect. 

Toning up the nervous energy often is all that is required 
to cure visual deficiencies. One case I had was that of an 
old lady who was nearly blind. She was brought to me to 
be treated for rheumatism which I succeeded in helping materi- 
ally. To the great surprise of herself and her friends, her eye- 
sight, which was thought to be an incurable factor in her case, 
was very much benefited and she could see with considerable 
ease by the time she completed her course of treatment. 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 125 

DEAFNESS 

is the result of a number of causes. Often it follows other 
sicknesses like fevers, rheumatism, or catarrh. It is some- 
times caused by the total demolition of the eardrum, or tym- 
panum, either through disease or from accidents, loud explosions, 
etc. In such cases there is no cure, any more than there is 
for an amputated leg. 

When, however, the deafness is caused by inflammation 
of the membranes, as it often is, general systemic treatment 
with local vibrations and appropriate suggestions will effect 
a cure. The congestion in the tissues can be relieved and 
the circulation stimulated, which will restore the hearing in 
due course of time. 

DISEASES OF THE SKIN 

are of many kinds and in general imply a disordered condition 
of the blood. They can best be approached through a course 
of treatment calculated to eliminate the impiu-ities in the 
system and thus relieve the blood of the elements which produce 
the unsightly skui conditions. 

I once cured a well knov^n local merchant, Mr. I. G. G ^ 

of a red rash or acne of long standing, by a course of three 
treatments calculated to quicken the circulation and purify 
the blood. The acne disappeared in the course of a very 
few days and although during the time he had suffered from 
it, which was for more than four years, it was very unsightly 
and annoying, his face became smooth and the skin clear after 
the treatment. He has suffered no return of the trouble in 
the course of the several years which have elapsed since I 
attended him. 



126 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 



HAY FEVER 

is a common and troublesome ailment in New England. It 
exhibits many of the indications of asthma, but is not of the 
same nature. There is inflammation and irritation in the 
membranes of the nasal and throat passages as well as in the 
head. Some think it caused by the pollen of grasses and 
plants floating in the air, but it is probably of nervous origin, 
for if it were not, a change of climate would always cure it, 
which does not happen. The treatment is substantially the 
same as for asthma or any other condition in which the nervous 
system is deranged by the inaction of the functions of nutrition 
and elimination. 

CATARRH 

is a term used to indicate certain inflammation of the mucous 
membrane. It occurs in many portions of the body and is 
especially common in the nasal and bronchial regions. It 
occurs in mild form in a great many people, some of whom 
suffer almost no perceptible inconvenience from it. In others 
it is very severe and wherever present is a factor detrimental 
to health because it produces a condition of systemic poisoning 
by reason of the discharges from the affected membranes. 
Catarrh may wholly destroy the membranes and produce the 
most fatal conditions of tuberculosis or it may exist in mild 
form during a patient's whole lifetime. 

It should be combatted by general treatment for the 
digestion and the nervous system, the effort being directed 
toward eliminating the systemic poison. No medicines will 
do this and there is no power known save the concentrated 
force of the subjective mind that will eradicate catarrhal con- 
ditions. Applications like sprays and inhalants are but local 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING, 127 

in their effects and the basic root of the trouble cannot be 
got at from without inward — it has to be an attack upon the 
'enemy from within to drive him out. 

Catarrh can be cured by Natural Healing methods and 
by no other as far as is known, but it is necessary for patient 
and operator alike to devote their best and most intelligent 
efforts to the work and even then the results must come slowly 
as the general systemic change takes place. 

ANEMIA 

is a deteriorated condition of the blood arising from impaired 
circulation. An observance of general rules of hygiene, out- 
door air and exercise and generous diet of blood-making con- 
stituents will supplement the general treatment in effective 
manner. The degeneration of the blood is caused by a decrease 
in the normal number of red corpuscles and the suggestions 
given should be aimed toward stimulating the functions that 
►control the making of new blood. Overwork is the cause of 
most anaemic conditions, and the causes responsible for the 
condition should of course be looked into and corrected before 
the treatment is entered into. 

ALCOHOLISM AND DRUG HABITS. 

In no portion of the Natural Healing operator's practice 
is there more opportunity for helping the weak and suffering 
members of humanity than in the treatment of habits which 
are beyond the control of the sufferers and fatal to their physical 
and spiritual welfare unless checked. Despite the existence of 
many uistitutions for the cure of liquor and drug habits, there 
is no medical treatment known that offers a certain cure. 
Suggestion alone can cure the victims of these habits perma- 
nently. 



128 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

In several cases, in which connection it is obvious that 
names cannot be used, I have succeeded in a very few treat- 
ments in utterly destroying the taste for injurious substances 
which the patients had not been able to control for years. 

In one case a manufacturer in another New England 
city had long been a heavy drinker. He found its evil effects- 
on his business were marked and he earnestly desired to abstain 
from the use of whiskey, which was his ordinary form of in- 
dulgence. I treated him several times, givmg him strong 
suggestions against his ability to keep whiskey on his stomach. 
He was utterly unable to retain liquor after that time and 
in a short while was able to control the habit completely. 

Another case was that of a man who had been a confirmed 
drinker for years. He had descended about as low as it was 
possible for him to do when his employers asked me to see 
if I could do anything for him. He had suffered a slight shock 
of paralysis as the result of his habits and I found him in a, 
pitiable condition indeed. 

I treated him for his affected limb and when I had gotten 
him so he could walk about with much more ease than before,, 
I saw I had gained his confidence. Then I suddenly turned 
upon him with a glare and a look of the utmost determination 
and told him dramatically that if he ever drank another drop 
of liquor, he would fall dead that instant! 

The poor man looked as though he would drop at that,, 
but he promised faithfully that he would not drink again 
and strangely enough the impression made upon him was so 
strong by that single suggestion that he never did touch liquor 
again. He could not be tempted to do so, and it was evident 
that he was utterly convinced that his end would occur if 
he broke the prohibition I had laid upon him! Such methods 
of course are not fair examples nor are they to be used indis- 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 129 

criminately, but they happened to fit the circumstances in 
this case to perfection! 

LOCOMOTOR ATAXIA 

is one of the most dreaded of all nervous diseases and is still 
regarded by many medical practitioners as incurable. It may 
be so after the destruction of certain tissues has taken place. 

The cause of the disease lies in the hardening and indura- 
ting of the lower portion of the spuial column, causing the motor 
nerves to be pressed upon and their functions deranged. The 
patient cannot control the action of the lower limbs, stumbles 
and falls when attempting to walk and as the disease progresses 
loses almost wholly the control of the motor nerves. As the 
difficulty proceeds along the course of the spinal column, the 
condition grows worse till finally the patient becomes wholly 
a cripple, physically and mentally. 

If the disease is taken before the nervous ganglia are 
destroyed, it can be cm-ed by general treatment as indicated 
for all deranged nervous and other functions. The most 
favorable hygienic conditions of course have to be observed 
and the faithful compliance of the patient with aU the neces- 
sities of the treatment is perhaps more essential in ataxia 
than in any other disease. Like nervous prostration, it can 
be conquered only by the fuUy concentrated forces of the mind. 

A recent case of locomotor ataxia m my practice was 

one where the ailment had existed for some time, but -the 

symptoms did not warrant the belief that nervous tissue of 

vital nature had been destroyed. The patient was unable to 

walk with any certainty and could do almost no work. I 

began with a course of general treatments and finding him 

easily amenable to suggestion I succeeded in directing his 

mind to his own help in a short time. The case is at this time 
10 



130 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

progressing slowly, but from inability to do any work of much 
account, the patient is now able to work full time in a factory 
where his occupation is running a stamping press actuated 
by a push of his foot. Needless to say he could not have 
done any such work as this when the treatment began. 

CANCER 

is one of the most dreaded of all diseases and since it is due 
to bacilli or germs which permeate the whole system, few 
operations by which the cancer is removed surgically result 
in permanent cure. 

I have no doubt that cancer can be cured by the subjective 
forces of the human mind if it can be cured at all, but I doubt 
if many individuals exist in whom it is possible to summon 
the forces quickly and strongly enough to effect a cure. Cancer 
is today practically an incurable disease, especially after the 
germs have spread from the original source of infection to 
the other tissues of the body. 

Natural Healing methods certainly offer the only real 
hope a cancer victim today has. There can be no doubt the 
power is within every man which can heal all diseases, but 
how often it can be developed in time to fight this most dangerous 
of diseases is problematical. Always, however, methods of 
suggestion can be used to stay the progress of the disease and 
to lessen the pain which all its victims suffer. If taken in 
its early stages, I am confident that many cases of the disease 
can be cured by the skifful Healer. 

INSANITY 

is of very many forms, and except where there are irreparable 
lesions in the brain tissue, all should be cm-able. It is evident 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 131 

that drug medication in such diseases is futile. Suggestion 
alone can restore mental balance. 

The Natural Healing operator is not likely to have a great 
many cases of brain disease in the course of practice because 
of the public regulation of such cases, but still I have met with 
some in the course of my work. 

One case in particular was that of a young man who was 
a private patient in one of the state institutions. He was 
brought by permission of the authorities to be treated by me 
and as he was suffering from acute violent mania, it took several 
men to control him by main force. I treated him for a few 
minutes and inside of a quarter of an hour after my arrival 
at the house where he was staying, he was docile as a child. 
He would obey me readily and seemed actually to be entirely 
rational. He steadily improved during the few days I had 
opportunity to treat him, but owing to the opposition of rela- 
tives, he was taken back to the institution, relapsed amid the 
scenes of horror prevalent there and afterwards died. I have 
no doubt that a great many cases of insanity could be cured 
by separation from other insane patients and treatment by 
suggestive methods. 

TUBERCULOSIS 

or consumption is probably the most widespread and most 
dreaded of all diseases. It is commonest as tuberculosis of 
the lungs, though any of the tissues of the body may be attacked 
by it. The disease called lupus, or 'Hhe wolf,'' conmion in 
some European countries, is tuberculosis of the skin. The 
commonly noted symptoms are emaciation, loss of strength, 
hectic flush, hollow coughing, hemorrhages from the lungs, 
daily periods of fever. Consumption is always complicated or 
accompanied by digestional irregularities and general functional 



132 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING, 

disturbance. Treatment tending toward keeping up the 
general strength and regulating the functions of elimination, 
in combination with nourishing diet and complete out-of-door 
life in a dry atmosphere has proved itself the best method of 
procedure. 

I had one case of tuberculosis of the lungs, that of Miss 

, who had been a patient for some time in a sanitarium 

for the cure of tuberculosis. She left the institution after a 
course of treatment and it was said that her lungs were still 
affected and that she could not be entirely cured. She came 
to me and after a few weeks of treatment according to the 
general method laid down, her health was very notably im- 
proved. An examination of her lungs by the sanitarium autho- 
rities shortly after showed that all tubercular symptoms had 
disappeared and she has since enjoyed perfect health. I am 
comdnced that methods of suggestion will hasten convalescence 
from tubercular affections very materially. 

In short, there is no human ill of any nature, in my belief, 
which cannot be minimized in its effects, if not completely 
cured, by the right use of the subjective power which is the 
heritage of every human being. 

INSOMNIA, 

or sleeplessness is a condition that accompanies a great many 
nervous disorders and is very frequently a most serious phase 
of their progress. If not checked, mental and physical wreck 
is sure to result, for sleep is quite as essential to the human 
organism as food, perhaps even more so. 

The basic treatment for insomnia will of course be that 
given for the nervous condition which produces it, but the 
local treatment will include the strongest possible suggestions 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 133 

to aid the patient in overcoming the inabihty to sink into 
repose. Victims of insomnia frequently become so badly 
affected that they get but one or two hours' sleep a night and 
occasionally very serious cases get no sleep at all for several 
nights. Such cases are extremely dangerous and it is known 
that no human being can go an entire week without sleep 
and live, while sanity may be destroyed by even shorter periods 
of wakefulness. 

The condition called sleep is regarded scientifically as 
being caused by a natural withdrawal of the blood from the 
brain tissues in a manner analagous to the condition that per- 
tains when unconsciousness from syncope occurs, except that, 
being a natural function, it has no ill, but rather beneficial 
effects upon the general organism. In theory at least, there- 
fore, sleep can be uiduced mechanically by the withdrawal of 
blood from the brain tissues and the usual expedients adopted 
are warm baths for the feet, cold plunges or packs for the 
entire body, ice upon the head, or any similar expedient that 
will withdraw the blood from the brain. Some nervous special- 
ists treat insomnia patients with strong mustard or other 
drawing plasters upon the bottoms of the feet on going to 
bed. 

The prmciple upon which all opiates act is the forcing 
of blood from the brain, but the use of opiates in insomnia 
is a fatal proceeding, for the reaction ensuing upon the use 
of such drugs necessitates larger and larger doses and their 
effects after long continuance of use are too well known to 
require comment. The only safe and efficacious means for 
the relief of insomnia is found m. the use of Natural Healing 
methods, while its ciure can only lie in the eradication of the 
nervous conditions underlying it. It is obvious that the 
skifful use of suggestion is the only means known to hasten 



134 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

Nature's process of repairing the waste of nervous tissue that 
produces neurasthenic conditions. 

The treatment for insomnia should be given preferably 
just before the patient retires. The general treatment for the 
nervous trouble can of course be given at any time, but the 
special treatment is best given just before sleep is to be induced. 
The treatment should consist of passes down the sides of the 
head, neck and body accompanied by the statement that the 
blood is to follow the course of the operator's hands, relieving 
the brain tissues and carrying away the excess of blood from 
the arterial to the venous system. Then the suggestions of 
sleep can be given firmly and impressively, and if the operator 
takes the patient's hand in his, gazes fixedly into his eyes and 
passes his hand lightly over the sufferer's eyes and brow, he 
will very often have the satisfaction of seeing the sick man 
drop gently off to sleep in a most natural and refreshing manner. 

If it is not desirable to use this method or it does not at 
once prove effective, a glass of water prepared in the prescribed 
manner and administered with the suggestion that it will 
have immediate opiate effect, will generally act almost instantly. 

All troubles of this nature are to be recognized as purely 
nervous in origin and treated accordingly. Local treatment 
is only for relief — the root of the matter must be gotten at 
and the patient must understand that a restoration of the 
nervous vitality is a process requiring time and faithful appli- 
cation. 



CHAPTER XIV. 
Breathing the Best Hygienic Precaution. 

THE vital need OF OXYGEN IN ALL THE TISSUES — HOW TO 
BREATHE — EXERCISES — AN ORIGINAL METHOD — A HYGIENIC 
MEASURE WITH A REAL PSYCHIC JUSTIFICATION — HOW FAR 
TO CARRY ANY EXERCISE. 

AMONG all the hygienic precautions and exercises that 
can be prescribed, the most important are those which 
have to do with breathing. The oxygen of the air is 
the vital fluid of physical life and it is absolutely essential to 
the processes which go on within the physical being and con- 
stitute the condition which is called living. 

A very large percentage of all human ailments might be 
traced at least indirectly to a failure to secure enough oxygen 
to supply bodily needs. The function of oxygen is simply 
to afford the possibility of combustion. 

The human body works exactly as does the fire in a furnace 
under a boiler. It takes certain carboniferous elements and 
by the process of combustion, which is only the union of such 
elements with oxygen at a certain necessary temperature, 
converts them into other forms which are required to produce 
heat or force or energy. 

The elements which enter the body cannot be absorbed 
or used by it unless they undergo this process of oxydation, 
and the portions of the fuel products not required by the body 
can only be eliminated from it by further process of oxydation. 
Therefore if a person does not get sufficient pure air containing 
the required proportion of oxygen, his body not only does 



136 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

not get the good from the food elements which enter it, but 
fails to eliminate the baser elements which are not useful but 
positively harmful to it. 

A man can live without food for many days and without 
water for many hours, but he cannot live even a very few 
minutes without air. 

The importance of breathing exercises can never be suffi- 
ciently emphasized. The majority of persons breathe with 
only a small portion of their lungs. The born idiot breathes 
only with the extreme top of his. The coward betrays himself 
in a narrow chest and a breathing habit that fills only the 
upper half or less of his natural air capacity. Smallness of 
character and mind is almost always shown by improper breath- 
ing. The American Indians declared that only the boaster 
and the coward breathed through their mouths — men breathe 
through their nostrils. Full, deep breathing is the natural 
concomitant of calm, well-ordered thinking and a clean, well- 
disposed order of life. 

Getting enough air into the lungs at every breath is an 
essential to physical health and therefore to the mental health 
and spiritual well-being. It is well to breathe deeply and fully 
no matter how it is done, but there are certain right ways 
of breathing as well as of doing everything else in life and 
their mastery is a factor of well-being and success to every 
student and reader of this volume. A few general exercises 
for deep breathing may be given, though these can be found 
in almost any text-book of hygiene or athletic manual. 

All breathing exercises should be taken in the open air 
with the lips tightly closed, but not compressed in a self-conscious 
or uncomfortable manner. If for any reason, the patient can- 
not go out of doors in all weathers, the breathing exercises 
should be taken before an open window, avoiding a draught. 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 137 

Exercises should not be taken upon a full stomach, though 
moderate breathing exercises will do no harm even then. 

1st Exercise, — Stand erect, heels together, spine straight, 
liead high, but not thrown back unnaturally, eyes looking on 
a level, hands hanging by the sides naturally. Place the 
hands on the waist in such manner that the middle fingers 
meet in front, the thumbs pointing backward. Inhale slowly 
through the nostrils, sending the air down deep so that it 
seems to force the middle fingers apart. Hold the air for a 
second or two, then expel slowly through the nose tiU there 
is a feeling of relaxation at the waist. Repeat this several 
times at the first trial. 

2nd Exercise. — Place the hands at the sides of the waist 
and breathe as before, gently pressing on the ribs as the exhala- 
tion takes place. 

3rd Exercise. — Place the hands at the small of the back 
and repeat as before, without pressing the waist at all during 
the exercise. Always aim to throw the breath low down in 
the chest, but do not strain the lungs nor produce a marked 
feeling of exhaustion, as that is imnecessary. The object should 
be to make the lungs feel as though they themselves and not 
the muscles, were doing the breathing. That is, make the 
act of inhalation seem like one of the wiU and not of pure 
muscular action. 

Jj-th Exercise. — Stand in the first position with hands at the 
sides and draw in a slow deep breath while you count eight. 
Hold the breath while you count eight; then count eight 
while exhaling. Repeat a number of times. 

The exercises at first should only occupy two or three 
minutes, especially in the case of persons who are not strong 
or who have not been accustomed to exercises of the sort and 
whose breathing is naturally deficient. The time can be 



138 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

lengthened rapidly each day, however, and within a few weeks,, 
fifteen minutes in the morning before breakfast, and the same 
at night before retiring, with whatever other periods are con- 
venient dm-ing the day, will not be too much. The fourth 
exercise can be taken to good advantage while walking at a 
moderate gait in the open air. Walking is one of the best, 
of exercises when accompanied by proper breathing, but it. 
should always be at a steady, calm, deliberate gait. Hurried, 
nervous walking does more harm than good. 

Aside from these directions for ordinary breathing, there 
is a method but little known, and indeed I do not know that 
it has ever before been published, which has not only physical 
but real mental value to recommend it. This exercise not 
only answers all the purposes of a good physical breathing 
exercise, but it also promotes subjective activity and directs, 
the hidden forces to the stimulation of the involuntary func- 
tions. Its beneficial effects in disciplining the mental forces- 
and strengthening them are, to my own knowledge, very great. 

The procediu-e should be as follows: Seat yourself alone 
in a quiet room where there will be no chance of disturbance. 
Separate the mind as much as possible from surroimding 
material conditions and strive to render it passive. The body 
should be disposed in an easy sitting position, but in such 
manner that the chest will not be cramped. Then when a 
state of suitable mental and physical repose and passivity 
has been attained, the exercise may be commenced. 

Close the right nostril with the right forefinger laid upon 
the side of the nose. Close the eyes and breathe deeply and 
slowly through the left nostril, letting the inhalation last while 
five is coimted in slow cadence. 

Send the breath deep into the chest and when this method 
of breathing through the left nostril is used, a very different 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 139 

sensation from that of breathing through both nostrils is ex- 
perienced. You will feel a current of cold air go down into 
the chest and around the region of the heart. Force the breath 
deeper and deeper till it seems to go far down into the abdomen 
and proceeds across the front of the body. Hold the breath 
in this manner till five can be coimted; then exhale through 
the right nostril while five is being counted. 

At the conclusion of the period of holding the breath, 
the forefinger should be lifted from the right nostril and the 
middle finger laid upon the left nostril, closing it and leaving 
the right free for exhalation. This process should be repeated 
two or three minutes the first day and increasing periods later. 

Auto-suggestions given during the inhalation periods are 
found to have the strongest possible effect and this method 
of breathing and self-treatment has not only been of much 
use to me, but has cured many patients of various diseases. 

All breathing exercises as well as all physical exercises 
of all natures should not be carried to the point of marked 
fatigue. It has often been erroneously supposed that muscular 
exercise ought to be persisted in until extreme fatigue is felt, 
in order to be useful in developing the body. That is not 
the case, for fatigue is a sign of the destruction of tissue, not 
of its upbuilding. 

Nature provides an infallible guide to determine the point 
at which exertion of all sorts should stop. As long as it is 
possible to breathe through the nose it is generally safe to 
say that exercise is not being carried beyond the safety point 
of strain upon the heart and limgs and the other vital tissues. 
As soon as it is necessary to open the mouth in order to breathe, 
the danger point is being passed and exercise should be abated 
till a period of rest has elapsed. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Some Suggestive Expedients, 
the hot and cold breath — ideal suggestion — professor 

wood's theory — NATURAL HEALING CAN DEVELOP THE 
SPIRIT AS WELL AS CURE THE BODY — HIGHEST IDEALISM AS 
WELL AS MATERIAL SUCCESS WITHIN THE NATURAL HEALER'S 
PROVINCE. 

THE breath can be used as a powerful factor in giving 
healing suggestions in certain kinds of cases, and 
sometimes the student will find valuable help in treating 
some of his patients in a simple expedient that I have dis- 
covered and used myself. It is the use of hot and cold breath, 
which despite the iEsopan fable, can be blown from the same 
mouth to good purpose sometimes! 

A moment's experiment will show the student that if 
he breathe upon his hand or upon that of another, with the 
mouth held close to it and the lips and teeth wide apart, the 
resulting sensation will be of marked heat. On the contrary 
if the lips are held in the position of whistling and the breath 
blown gently through them, the hand held at a distance of 
an inch or two will feel a pleasant cooling sensation. 

In cases of inflammation, a cool breath blown upon the 
affected part will prove grateful in sensation and, if accompanied 
by appropriate suggestions, will often relieve and dispel the 
condition. In cases of congestion, on the other hand, such 
as occur in facial neuralgia, etc., place a clean handkerchief 
on the patient's flesh and blow the hot breath through it and 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 141 

the sensation of heating will prove a good vehicle for potent 
suggestions of curative nature. 

In some cases the very exposition of the ability to blow 
hot and cold will arrest the patient^s attention and secure 
his confidence to his own great good. The means used to 
convey suggestions may often seem petty and almost amusing 
to the educated operator, but it is not the means of imparting 
suggestions, but the mighty curative power of the forces affected 
by them that counts. 

Prof. Wood employs the suggestive theory in a somewhat 
novel manner in the endeavor to develop the spiritual side 
of man's being. He devotes his efforts to the inculcation of 
the highest moral idealism, considering that the spiritual 
development is the one real object of worthy endeavor. He 
aims at the highest things first, believing that the physical 
body will be healed of itself when the divine heritage of which 
he speaks has been attained, that is, the birth of the spiritual 
consciousness and the freedom of man from the dommion 
of sin and selfishness. 

He adopts what he terms ''Ideal Suggestions," which are 
suitable auto-suggestions, and these he strives to impart by 
what he calls ''Mental photography,'' which is the repetition 
of suggestions while in a state of mental and physical passi^dty, 
until they have been impressed on the subjective mind 
through objective repetition backed by the direction of the 
will. 

His system consists in having the suggestions printed on 
cards -in large letters. Each suggestion is accompanied by a 
dissertation upon which the student is required to meditate 
before the process of repetition is begim. Then the card with 
the appropriate suggestion is placed in easy \iew while the 
state of passivity is induced. 



142 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

The student fixes his eyes upon the card, banishing all 
other impressions save the form and meaning of the suggestion 
in question. His concentration upon the card and its printed 
sentence is supposed to imprint or photograph its likeness 
upon the objective mentality whence it is transferred in the 
manner of all suggestions to the subjective mind. These 
suggestions, as outlined by Prof. Wood, are of a nature par- 
ticularly to appeal to people of a religious bent, but of course 
any others could be substituted for his series. As a mechanical 
aid to auto-suggestion, many patients might find this plan 
very efficacious. The idea of mental photography, in this 
connection, is in itself an ingenious suggestion. 

Thus far, the whole aim of this work has been to show 
how the powers of the mind can be directed toward the im- 
provement of physical conditions. 

Physical health is, from one point of view, the most impor- 
tant factor m human life. In very few cases indeed is it possible 
for a human intellect, spirit or soul, let it be called what one 
will, to attain its highest development in a diseased physical 
tenement. The body and the mind are connected in so close 
and mysterious a fellowship that the impoverished body, 
assailed by unnatural conditions, hampers and drags down 
the higher attributes of the spirit. The noblest work, the 
highest thinking, cannot be done by a mind chained to a 
diseased and suffering body. So that the search for physical 
health as a means to higher mental growth, is the most worthy 
pursuit a man can follow. 

It has been attempted to show, with what success the 
reader will determine, that the subjective forces of the human 
mind offer the best and surest means of securing perfect physical 
conditions, because in them is the control of those conditions 
and nowhere else is such control lodged. The desire, backed 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 143 

by the will, to be strong and well physically, is all that man 
needs to attain a perfect physical condition. This being so, 
how much wider and nobler a field is there open to every one 
in the development of the mind and soul through the application 
of the suggestive theory to man's latent potentialities. 

Prof. Henry Wood says in his admirable book on this 
subject:* ^'The purpose of ideal suggestion is far broader and 
higher than the mitigation and healing of physical ailments, 
Jiowever desirable that may be. Such is but an incidental 
part of its work, and the same is true of mental healing as 
that term is ordinarily employed. The grand mission of 
these great principles is the development of the spiritual ego; 
to roll away the stone from the door of the sepulchre of the 
lower self; to bring to birth the spiritual consciousness; to 
free man from the dominion of sin and selfishness, and to 
enthrone the real divine self, — God's image, — and put him in 
possession of his divine heritage." 

No object of scientific investigation offers such wide possi- 
bilities, since none other comes so near to the root of things 
as does research into the workings of the subjective forces. 
There is no human activity of any nature in which the subjective 
entity of mankind does not exercise, even though unconsciously, 
a dominant influence. From the correcting of the most insig- 
nificant physical ill to the realization of the highest sphitual 
idealism, the power that does is within man's own being. 

Whether a man seek physical health, material prosperity 
or the grandest ideals of spiritual altruism, his ability to attain 
is measured in direct proportion to his subjective development. 
So that the student of subjective phenomena does not find 
himself limited merely to the acquirement of knowledge that 



♦"Ideal Suggestion through Mental Photography." — Henry Wood. 



144 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

cures the bodies of others, but he sees opened to him the grandest 
truths of ethical and moral philosophy which he can apply 
in securing for himself and others enlarged material, mental 
and spiritual growth. Not alone perfect physique but increased 
material well-being, broadened personal influence and even 
character itself result from the wise training and directing of 
our Natural forces. 

It cannot be doubted that men who are ^'successful," in 
the ordinary terms of expression, are those who, by their develop- 
ment of what is known as personality or personal magnetism, 
are able to sway their fellow men to their own ends. This 
development is probably within the reach of all to a greater 
or less extent, and so long as its use is within the boundaries 
of what is known and recognized to be right and just, it is 
a perfectly legitimate and proper use of a great Natural force. 
But no matter how honestly personal influence is used, it does 
not realize the highest ideals when it is employed solely for 
personal advancement and aggrandizement. 

Aside from the common object of physical improvement 
and on the other extreme, the ideal development of spiritual 
growth, there is a domain of practical everyday life in which 
the value of psychic development cannot be overestimated. 
The grand object of aU human life is success, that is, the attain- 
ment of some specific goal toward which ambition points. 

The material manifestation of success is almost always 
money, position, influence. But whether these purely material 
manifestations or the better ones of artistic or ideal attainment 
are what spell success in any individual case, the end can only 
be gained by the development of the subjective powers. 

Observe any man who has '' arrived," who has made his- 
place, attained his goal, at least in a worldly sense. Invariably 
he will be found to possess certain qualities— those qualities 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 145 

which in the summation are called '^ personality/^ ''personal 
magnetism/' etc. He will be found to have either the ability 
to influence men to his will merely by the intangible force 
that surrounds his words and actions, or he will be found to 
have the ability to concentrate all his energies upon some one 
object and to pursue it through thick and thin to his end. 
He will have indomitable will and unflagging energy. 

One or all of these qualities will be found in every man 
who has succeeded, whether it be at money-getting, man- 
leading or picture-painting. These qualities are not natural 
gifts to one man more than to another. They are the natural 
heritage of all men, but they are developed either consciously 
or unconsciously in very different degrees. 

In the light of investigations into subjective phenomena, 
we know that health is teachable. Success is teachable also. 
What makes up the summation of life? Actions. What, are 
actions but the crystallization of thoughts into a form which 
is tangible to the physical senses? Thoughts are things. 

Thought is a wave motion in the ether, differing only 
from the vibrations that produce light, heat and electricity 
in the same way that a maple differs from an elm. Both are 
trees, but they differ in physical characteristics. 

Personal magnetism is the result of concentration of 
thought upon definite, appropriate lines and the development 
of the power to db-ect thought into definite, effective channels. 



11 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Teachability of Success. 

adductive power of thought — ^'l can '^ and 
success can be taught — concentration the first re- 
quirement — practical directions — a story to illustrate 
the point. 

THOUGHTS seem to have the power of attracting their 
like. The mental atmosphere of one oppressed by fear 
or habitually thinking fear thoughts, is filled with fear 
to the exclusion of all other impulses or emotions. Fear breeds 
fear and so does every other class of thought attract and multiply 
itself from the great unseen reservoirs of thought vibration 
which surround us. The only difference between success and 
failure in life is the difference between a positive and a 
negative mode of thinking. The positive thinker thinks, 'T 
can and I will"; and the negative thinker says to himseK, 
'^I can^" 

All thought seems to possess this adductive power, the 
ability to draw to itself other thoughts of like kind. The 
man who thinks thoughts of failure attracts to himself all 
the thbughts of failure in his vicinity and he fails because 
his subjective mind which governs all his involuntary actions, 
which subconsciously registers all the experiences of life, has 
nothing but directions of failure to work upon. The pessimist 
and the man who looks for evil, auto-suggests himself into 
the very circumstances he forecasts. 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 147 

The objective mind is the active half of the mentality. 
It perceives, reasons, considers, accepts, rejects. The subjective 
mind is the passive element. It believes everything the objec- 
tive mind sends to it through the will. It acts on every impulse 
it receives unless restrained by a stronger opposite one. The 
man whose objective mind is constantly on guard to prevent 
the subjective mind from getting anything but the kind of 
impressions that tend to success is the man who believes in 
himself — that is in the divine power that is within himself, 
the ego. He is the man who succeeds, while he who constantly 
believes in failure and misfortune gives the passive element 
of his mind the very kind of directions that hasten him on 
to ruin. 

While there is no doubt about the teachability of success, 
it is not always the easiest thing to break away from old thought 
habits and to set the objective mind at work guarding the 
subjective or passive function from bad impressions. Con- 
centration is the keynote of subjective control. Learn to do 
things one at a time and with all the might. No one who 
has not tried knows what a difficult thing it is to control the 
attention. Concentration upon one definite thing to the utter 
exclusion of everything else is one of the hardest possible 
feats, but it is the secret of successful endeavor in every activity 
of life. 

A few practical directions for securing the ability to con- 
centrate may be given. A great many people waste half 
their energy in involuntary movements of the muscles and 
nerves, some of which become so habitual that they are un- 
consciously done. Useless, nervous motions, like swinging the 
feet when sitting down, rocking continuously, playing with 
small objects, like pencils, watch-chains and guards, swaying 
movements, drumming with the fingers and all similar manifes- 



148 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

tations of nervous temperament are objectionable because 
they distract the attention from more important things. They 
also use up nervous energy that might better be devoted to 
more useful ends. 

Learn to sit quietly, easily, avoiding tense muscles when 
they are not in use. It is easy to form such a habit of carrying 
the body as it is to form the useless habits just spoken of and 
a little practice and attention will change the old habits into 
the new one in a little while. Then when these involuntary 
nervous affairs have been corrected, begin to train the 
voluntary attention and see how difficult a thing it is to 
master. 

The attention is a most unruly servant and tends to wander 
in all sorts of paths unless kept strictly to the business at hand. 
The power to concentrate the attention can only be secured 
by practice. 

Some simple expedients may be adopted that will greatly 
help in this connection. One is to take an easy sitting position 
in a place where there will be no disturbance and hold a common 
lead pencil or some other uninteresting object in the hand. 
Gaze firmly upon it and think of nothing but it. Fix the 
attention upon it as though there was nothing else in the world 
but you and it. Consider it in every possible light, as to shape, 
size, color, length, use, origin, process of manufacture, value, 
sale, and in every other connection that ingenuity can suggest. 
But don't let the thoughts wander from the pencil itself into 
any of the side channels these reflections will open. When 
you have mastered the ability to think hard, not merely gaze 
idly, upon a simple object of this sort, you will find that you 
have secured a very valuable training and one that will help 
you immeasurably in all thought afterward. 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING, 149 

An old story is told of a lawyer who wished to take a 
youth into his office in the old days when lawyers were made 
in that way, that is, by study in the offices of their seniors. 
He let his intention be known and, as he was a man of much 
repute, the applicants were many. He made his choice from 
the large number of boys by a novel method which determined 
to his satisfaction that the successful one would exhibit the 
proper legal turn of mind. 

He took each applicant separately and told him a long 
story which began with the incident of a squirrel running down 
a tree and into a hole in the side of a barn. From this point 
the story branched out in a multitude of detail and contained 
some startling incidents, like the breaking loose of the 
cattle in the barn, the burning of the structure, the killing 
of the owner by a fall from the fire ladder and other 
features of surprising nature, all told in the most graphic 
manner. 

At the conclusion of the tale he asked each listener for 
some comment on it. One questioned about the origin of 
the fire, another about the worth of the structure, another 
about the number of cattle lost, and so on, and each was 
rejected. 

At last one little freckled-faced fellow listened attentively 
all the way through and then as he sat silent at the end, the 
lawyer encouraged him to ask a question. 

''Isn't there anything else you'd Hke to know about it? '' 
he asked. 

''Well," said the boy finally, "I'd like to know what 
became of that squirrel! " 

"You're the one," said the lawyer in delight, "You're 
engaged! " 



160 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

The boy was the only one of the lot that had been able 
to grasp a fact, concentrate upon it and stick to it, despite 
all the mist of extraneous matters, and it was this power of 
mind that especially appealed to the attorney. Pick out 
your squirrel and chase him up till you lay hands on him, 
no matter if Creation falls about your ears while doing it! 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Conclusion. 

one thing to avoid — hypnotism, a popular bugbear — 
why it need not be feared — natural healing rises 
above low plane on which hypnotism stands — true 
influence over fellow men a noble thing — the oneness 

WITH THE INFINITE. FiniS, 

ALL schools of medicine as well as all classes of thinkers 
are today beginning to recognize suggestion as of the 
greatest value not only in physical ailments, but in 
higher relations of mind and spirit. 

There is, however, a widespread fear or distrust of one 
feature of suggestion, which is unfortunately one of the first 
to present itself to the minds of many people. The word 
hypnotism is a great bugbear to many who would otherwise 
avail themselves gladly of the help that suggestive therapeutics 
offers. 

Hypnotic suggestions are used by some suggestionists 
and practitioners with excellent effect, it is claimed, but in 
general, hypnotism is a low plane of suggestion and neither 
as efficacious or as safe as the class of suggestive phenomena with 
which this work has been dealing. The term hypnotic sugges- 
tion is used to designate a mild hypnosis or state of induced 
sleep in which the objective fimction is lulled to rest and with 
it the will. 

Hypnotic suggestions are extraneous and do not reach 
the subjective entity through the will of the patient himself. 



152 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

The essential quality of hypnotic suggestion is servitude or 
the abasement of the individual to the will of another. 

Pure suggestion, on the other hand, sets free the will of 
the patient, gives him the key to his own power and makes 
him in the highest sense master of his own destiny. It arouses 
the God within himself, the spirit that is part of the divine 
whole, instead of making him subservient to the will of another. 

When the soul has been set free by the power of true 
suggestion it has no need for the lower plane of hypnosis and 
the greater the spiritual development, the less hold hypnotic 
suggestion can possibly have upon a person. It cannot be 
doubted that to the low spiritual development, hypnotic power 
might offer a real menace, because in the hands of the unscru- 
pulous, the mastery of another's will might offer deep temptation 
to moral wrong and perversion. But as the soul development 
rises higher, the danger from hypnotic suggestion or hypnotism 
in general decreases. 

No one can be hypnotized against his own will. Hypnosis 
cannot be induced in anybody without his own acquiescence. 
Hypnosis predicates concentration upon the part of the person 
to be hypnotized. When once a person has been hypnotized, 
and has surrendered his will to the hypnotist, it becomes increas- 
ingly easier for the latter to control his subject on future occa- 
sions. But unless one yields and himself consents to the 
process of concentration which is necessary, he cannot be 
hypnotized by any one. 

While in the hands of a perfectly pure and high-minded 
hypnotist, there might be occasions when hypnotic suggestions 
would be useful, yet in its basic idea it is a dangerous thing, 
and especially so to the undeveloped mind. The higher ego, 
once it is set free by a right understanding and practice of 
the true suggestion which aims only to make the individual 



THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 153 

master of himself and not the servant of another, rises above 
the petty plane of hypnosis into the higher realization of the 
forces that govern life. What is the need of taking the risks 
that^must appertain to a state whose basic idea is the surrender 
of volition and servitude to another's will, either for good 
or bad, when we can he ourselves and reign in our own heritage 
by the might of our own powers! Everywhere there is adver- 
tised instruction in the method of inducing hypnosis, and always 
the advertisement impresses upon the reader the fact that 
by this means he can control the actions of others — not that 
he can do good to humanity, but that he can influence others 
to his own ends. 

The scope and power of hypnotism are always exaggerated 
and it is made to appear that any one by a short period of 
«tudy can exercise an unlimited empire over the actions of 
others regardless of their submission or acquiescence. This is 
in no sense true, and while hypnotism in unscrupulous hands 
might work injury to a certain class of subjects, those versed 
in the higher functions of the subjective entity need have no 
fear of hypnosis nor desire to use it. 

True influence over our fellow men is attained by the 
force of what we are ourselves, not by submerging the volition 
of others. Character and personality and not the mysterious 
balderdash of the platform hypnotist are the real secrets of 
power among men. These attributes are secured by the 
development of the divine spirit within ourselves and not by 
surrender of our birthright to another who may be pure in 
heart and who may not. 

In conclusion, I would repeat the premises with which 
I began this volume: that the Subjective mind rules the 
functions of the body as well as the emotions and spiritual 
growth. The Subjective mind is always amenable to Objective 



/ 

/ 



154 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 

suggestions imparted through the medium of the will. The 
Power which makes us whole physically is the same as that 
which makes us spiritually emiobled and that Power is within 
ourselves — it is the Ego, the Spark of the Divine. Whoever 
will seek, shall find the secret of life in the midst of his own 
being and by being himself he shall find his imity with the 
Eternal! 

Finis, 



1906 



